Bomb scare

At around 10 - 10.15 am today all the 'warga kerja' of the selangor state secretariat were shocked by news of a bomb in the building. like lambs ready for slaughter everyone followed the instructions to vacate the premise. all very calm, very regimented with almost no hint of panic, and it somehow struck me that we were either a breed of very brave souls or too insulated by a false sense of security that the possibility of being blown to bits was just beyond our comprehension. i'm a little scared to admit that its probably the latter... scared because being in a state of denial doesnt auger well for a well prepared reaction in the face of such an event.

Just look at security. like most things around here it has fallen into the blow hot n blow cold category. sometimes security is tighter than a friggin a--hole but then there are also days you could sashay your way pass the gates, like a prostitute strutting her wares, without eliciting even a protesting blink from the guards. if one really pondered at what could've gotten through those gates, i dont think we could be sitting at our desks as serenely as we're doing now, almost without a care in the world. but we've always been this easily lulled by our peaceful environment plus the fact that violence has never been a way of life around these parts.

But is all that going to change soon?

Sigh.... dunno.

But at least for now, it turned out to be just another bomb scare. but then again, one can also get used to such scares..... and be lulled deeper and deeper into that false sense of security. until one not-so-fine day, kabooooooom!!!

Such gory scenarios belong to the movie screens and lets keep it that way. i dont think i much fancy having my grey matter splattered all over the rubble.

Mini domestic glitches

I woke up this morning to a leaking kitchen sink. sunday, when most plumbers are claiming their day of rest and prone to charging double if roused from it in any way. now whats a woman to do? she surely cant just let the already messy wet kitchen become any messier can she?

But first things first. its that customary morning run for her to put things in its proper perspective lol. i'd made a pact earlier with AH that we'd have McD's big breakfast if she'd trade her sunday snooze-in for some communal aerobic fun at the dataran shah alam. we even stopped over to pick up an 'anak buah' cum officemate who wanted to tag along.

After sweating it out and then filling up to the brim at McD's (sorta counter productive eh - exercise giler2 pastu makan sakan2 lol but hey, one's gotta eat kan), its back to the leaky sink for me. adeh.... susah takde handyman around nih. the boys pulak awal2 lagi dah lari sebatu when it comes to this sorta thing. problem computer or any of the techie stuff takpe but nope, nothing to do with the kitchen or bathroom. sheeeesh!!

A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do!!

The problem: leak, leak, leak.

The solution: lots of silicone glue to act as sealant at the joints and caulking thread to tighten up the dripping cleaning outlet. should work till somebody who knows whatever hell he's doing takes over lol


The Week in a Flash

Mon 15/05/06
- Buzy with the upcoming SOC. once done with the candles and stuff, its packing all manners of krepek2 into cute little goodie bags - pisang, ubi, bawang, kuih bangkit etc. tak tumpah macam assembly line kat kilang lol

Tues 16/05/06
- paperwork & more krepek-merepek heheh.
- 1 hr aerobics with malik yeehaaa, 20 mins treadmill/2km/150kj

Wed 17/05/06
-AI is now the proud owner of a driver's license yay!!!!!!!!

Thurs 18/05/06
- AF's trial run at paparoti alam sentral: 12 noon - 10 pm @ 2.50/hr. if he pass muster then its a month's partime job for him. when he's on a 'project' and needs to earn some xtra cash its mostly the food outlets for him. he says he likes food preparation and the feeling of going back to basics.
- had to forgo the teh tarik session with my semsas78 gang @ awan besar.
- 1 hr aerobics, again with malik but a rather mild session this time, probably targetted to the more sedentary members.

Fri 19/05/06
- AH had a friend's birthday party to attend and after picking her up we went straight to TGV bukit raja for the midnite screening of Da vinci code & MI3. the original plan was to leave her home with opah bcos of the adult rating for da vinci tapi tak sampai hati la plak so the boys went on ahead to breaking codes while we settled for the more predictable tom cruise.
- didnt really push myself yesterday so made up with an early morning run just before work
25 mins/3 x 1km lap

Sat 20/05/06
- theres nothing more mundane then chores and weekly marketing. fish, meat, poultry - into the freezer. garlics & onions - sessi kopek-mengopek sampai jadi calon pelakon airmata lol.
- was so happy when AH & AF decided to hit some tennis balls while i headed for the gym (AI paling mengelat when it comes to any form of physical activity - he chose to stay home and 'teman' opah, sheesh) @ KSAS. but at least its 2 out of 3 and they're moving their butts along with me lol.
35 mins treadmill/4km/300kj

Sun 21/05/06
- 1 hr aerobics plus 2 x 1km lap at the tasik

A blessed day

Happy Birthday Abe
Happy Birthday Abe
Happy Birthday Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday Abe !!!!!!

Its the man's 48th and the first spent away from home but the kids doas & mine will be with him wherever he goes. Semoga Rahmat & Nikmat Nya milik mu senantiasa Abe ku saye :)

It's also AI's day of surprises..
i. he passed his driving test at first go (he was so certain he wouldnt make it thru the 'on the road' portion sbb asyik mati engine je sebelum ni - mat gabra hehehe)
ii. with the release of the UPU results today, by noon he was most happy to report he did get the course he had so wanted!!!!! he's pretty adamant about taking it up and letting go of the matrix offer. apa2lah anak, asalkan terus berusaha.

Seribu syukur. thank you for such a blessed day Lord!!

As for me i was fully occupied with more SOC related activities. mujur AF's home for term break so at least he's around to take over some of my 'supir' duties... otherwise its the taxi for AH. early morning saw myself and 3 others in banting (yea banting of all places) for the fitting of a 2 piece suit assigned to all ajks involved with 'protocol' duty. prior to this we were already given uniformed baju kurungs (nothing to get excited about since baju kurung was never a fav... but heck its free lol). then it was back to juggling work with more and more cenderahati preparation. the office is really starting to look like a bazaar!!!!

Didnt know AF was fasting and it was a good thing he had the foresight to get enough nando's chicken to go round. Sorry la ma sempat such a cincai breaking fast je yang. its one of those days.

Workout Update
Tues 09/05/06
- 1 hr utterly satisfying aerobics session with malik. berpeluh sakan and with his interesting moves, there was no room for boredom to set in.

Wed 10/05/06
- morning run 3 x 1km lap in 20 mins.

Thurs 11/05/06
- 30 mins aerobics abandoned halfway due to a boring instructor. continued at gym.
- treadmill work: 30 mins/3.8km/speed 9/250 kj followed by 5 mins/0.3km/speed6.5/30kj

On Procrastinating

Kita jadi tak bermaya bila banyak yang tertunggak.

Its easy for people like me to get into such situations. talk to another procrastinator and they'll know exactly what i mean. you let things pile up one after another and before you know it you're overwhelmed. its suddenly all too much and you just want to run away and hide while pretending you have everything under control. and its not like its something new... time and time again, you let it happen. and when you're heavy on the years like me, you sort of run out of excuses. for better for worse, you're a procrastinator and you learn to deal with it, somehow.

Top on my list was a story i'd promise some good people for a good cause. but try as i might, i just couldnt come up with anything remotely decent and i dilly dallied till the promised datelines came and went so many times that i wanted to puke!! heavy of heart i forced myself to face it no matter what and thankfully i finally did get it done walaupun tak sebaik mana. oh tersangat la lega nya sekarang and to my wonderful friend/s, thank you for being so patient with me and the best of luck in your endeavours!! anyway, now i can blog again instead of being ravaged by either guilt or remorse for merepek'ing when in actual fact, i should be keeping my promise :)

Next was setting up an appointment with the toyota car service. the avanza was due for its 22,000 km checkup and i kept postponing making that call. kononnya takut nak commit - maybe nak pakai la, susah nak arrange la, macam2 and i kept mum till the very last moment. AF needed the car to cart back all the stuff he'd accumulated during his 3 year stay in sg petani. and of course i wanted the car in tip top condition for him so that was what finally pushed me into action. shessh..... ngarut betui kan!!

Then there're those few bills that still need settling and for the life of me i cant understand why i'm shirking from it. susah sangat ke nak sumbat cheque into an envelope and pay off that cukai pintu hmmm? i guess a great part of my problem lies in my inability to make & stick to a decision. now indecision, in case you hadn't noticed, is a killer to action - "eh kirim je la payment tu - hmmm tapi kalau gi sendiri lagi cepat tapi kat mana pulak majlis daerah kuala selangor tu ek?!!? - ish kirim je la tapi where's that white envelope again? - eeek, dah lambat sangat ni kena pegi sendiri tapi bila?". By the time i decide to really act on it, the house kat bkt cerakah mesti dah kena sitta or something.

Dah 40 lebih pun tak tau2 jugak lagi?! its not that i dont bask in the the enormous relief or the heavenly bliss i get when i've acccomplised all my tasks, dreaded or otherwise!!!!!! tapi entah la ye.... maybe i secretly get off from all this head bashing but somehow forgot to clue myself in on it kot lol?!!!?


The Week in A Flash (01/05/06 - 07/05/06)

1st May - Labour Day.
- Meronda klcc with the 2 kiddos. mainly to cash out some leftover isetan vouchers Abe won for golfing which we spent mostly on japanese foodstuff... balik buat sendiri sushi etc. we then parked our butts @ kinokuniya, where we bumped into ikelah & dr in the house. memang tak sangka dan walaupun sekejap tapi best dapat jumpa kengkawan!!
- Didnt know they'd be closing down KSAS for labour's day so instead of the gym i detoured to the good ole tasik even though it was getting pretty late. had time only for a short run of 2 x 1km lap in 20 mins since it was almost maghrib and wasnt really a good idea to be huffing & puffing when the azan sounded.

02/05/05
- Tuesdays have always been something i loooked forward to bcos it would mean malik's rousing aerobic sessions. unfortunately this was the 2nd week we'd had to contend ourselves with another 'not so hebat' instructor.
1 hr of mild 'my-heart-isnt-really-in-this' aerobics.

03/05/06
- Buzy buzy day at the big O, no fooling around whatsoever. in between the never ending paperwork, persistent contractors and demanding bosses, there was also preparations for the up and coming SOC (senior officers conference) that selangor will be hosting this year. adeh... ponat den.

04/05/06
- Got the avanza serviced in the nick of time. the office driver was supposed to pick me up immediately after drop off at 8.30 but there was a misunderstanding or rather, miscommunication of sorts and i ended up waiting at the customers lobby till my car was ready round about 10.30 am. weeell, this things happen i guess but i would've taken a taxi if i'd known earlier.
- Aerobics scraped due to the DYMM Agong's visit so its the gym for me. Treadmill - 30 mins/4km/300kj @ steady jog speed of 8-9km and 10 mins/1km/80 kj @ brisk walking speed of 6-6.5.

05/05/06
- You just cant please everyone, can you?!!? I was to attend the tahlil of mak's close friend by maghrib, one which she herself couldnt (or wouldnt) attend. And i also had specific instructions to get a W800 sony ericsson for Abe's friend by day's end, for reasons best known only to him. Factor in the fact that i usually leave the office around 6-6.30 pm and and that i've AH to pick up from school by 7 pm - it didnt actually leave me much room to manuevre and a sure fire formula for turning up late... and late i was for the tahlil (but so were half of those who eventually turned up). i did try my best mak and considering the circumstances, believe me when i say i really really did.

06/05/06
- AF's back for the car and all my 3 children are with me this weekend, alhamdulillah. its a good feeling.
- Tasik morning run: 2 laps x 2km/40 mins plus another 10 mins stretching thrown in.

07/05/06
- AF's down with flu but still very determine to stick to plan and drive back to sg petani with GF & her sister in tow. Colleges are all generally having term break and coincidentally his GF is from sg petani so he has them for company all the way up north. and 3 of his mates will be hitching a ride on the trip back tomorrow. Tak kira la macamana pun, at least he wont be driving alone during both rides.
- AI was in one of his rare 'lazy dont wanna go anywhere' mood so it was female bonding time for AH & me lol. we got ourselves identical heartshaped silver pendants (wish it was platinum but it'll have to do for now lol) at alam central and basically just hung out at shah alam's main shopping triad - SACC, Alam Central & PKNS complex. and we lamented on the absence of a family based cinema in shah alam yet again. like AH was saying, teens her age still went about doing whatever it is they were accused of doing in cinemas, only now they venture further out like midvalley, one utama or klcc. so why not have it closer to home where its easier for parents to monitor their children's activities (if they really wanted to that is). couldnt agree with her more on that one.

Keeping Busy - HIS

The ways of keeping busy are many and varied... but for each their own lol

HIS: Work hard, play hard(er) - seems to be the motto for these men :)
There's nothing like a little healthy competition to ease away the boredom and to work off some of that accumulated stress. so the guys have football, snooker, bowling, ping pong etc all lined up.

The 'premier' semi-turkmen football team.... posing maut heheh

And theres also the more dignified & refined social functions such as get togethers, kenduris, tahlils and other activities, both diurnal and nocturnal!!


Oh, i know all you see are men but rest assured there are plenty of pretty ladies out there in ashgabat. tapi of course la golfman wouldnt want to push that fact into my face by sending me such pics kan lol?!!

Keeping Busy - HERS

HERS : Both work & play, keeps the restlessness at bay :)
A new home for the tons of cds scattered all over the boys' room. And who else but yours truly had the patience to set the thing up from scratch lol?



Here are part of the goodies for the SOC scheduled for the end of may. since yours truly is one of the cenderahati ajk, kena la ringan skit tulang temulang nih. anyway its great training utk kala & ketikanya nak bermenantu esok2... ewah lol. btw, that harmless looking glue gun can get pretty hot!!