A celebration of love

There is one date that I really look forward to every year, no it’s not my birthday, it’s my wedding anniversary. A day where my husband and I celebrate our love, our devotion and our submission to each other. And yesterday, we celebrated our 15th anniversary as husband and wife.

I can’t believe it that it has been that long. 15 years ago yesterday we tied the knot at Indianapolis Islamic Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, sealing the deal hopefully forever and ever, till death do us part. I still feel like it was yesterday that we took the 2-hour drive with a few close friends to say our vow in the house of Allah in hope that we would make it through thick and thin together. And it was nothing short of thick and thin that we went through together in our journey as man and wife in the past 15 years.

15 years!!! I keep saying 15 because I can’t believe it’s been 15 years. Another 15 years I’ll be celebrating my anniversary with my grandchildren. It does make me feel a little like a veteran though...

Anyway, 15th being a significant number made me rather anxious and we both wanted it to be a special celebration for both of us. We had breakfast in the morning with our little angel (who by the way can’t stop smiling at the Bangla waiters. She just loves men of any age!) whilst the other kids were in school. We had lunch at home and after Friday prayer (and in between fetching kids to and fro schools) we went for a short coffee break at a nearby mall.

This year, for the first time, I’ve ordered an anniversary cake from a dear friend. Thruthfully, I actually needed an excuse to get a whole cake from Irma (I've been drooling at her pretty pictures posted in facebook for the past few months), so I jumped at the opportunity. I must say it was really yummy and I could the taste the rich chocolate lingering in my mouth as it melts. As a bonus she also brought some yummy brownies!! Thanks Irma, the kids love it so much.

The lovely anniversary cake:


The day ended with the much awaited anniversary dinner. This year I’ve been trusted with the dinner arrangement since I have lots of time to spend on planning. Based on the feedbacks I got from friends through facebook, I chose the one that I think befits the occasion the most. All I can tell you is that it was the most expensive dinner (or even breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner put together) I’ve ever had in my entire life! In my defense, we only get to celebrate 15th anniversary once in our lifetime, so it was all worth it.

The highlight of the celebration for me was the anniversary present (I can’t help it, who doesn’t like present huh?). He loves to collect watches and electronic gadgets. As I don’t have a steady source of income, gadget is totally out of my non-existence budget hence I got him a watch instead. Got a very good deal (really!), so I don’t feel guilty the he actually have to pay for it too later (I’m a dependant remember?). As for mine, he waited until after the dinner. So I was thinking since it was small enough to fit into his pocket, it must be a sparkle. And I was absolutely right. A certain part of my body is 0.5carat sparkler and it even comes with a GIA certificate….yahoooooo!!!!!! I can’t stop looking at it as I’m penning this article.

I say it is certainly not easy to build a life with another human being, but we should always make it a worthwhile journey together. It has been a worthwhile journey for me thus far and I look forward to another 100 years of journey together with my husband, insyaAllah.

LIMA BELAS TAHUN

(A special dedication to my husband of 15 years)

15 tahun yang lalu
Aku melangkah ke alam baru
Tanpa menoleh kebelakang
Tanpa sedikit rasa gentar
Yang aku ada
Hanya kamu diantara berjuta
Hanya satu janji yang belum tentu ada jawapnya
Hanya satu perjalanan yang belum tahu kemana penghujungnya
Tapi aku tahu dengan hanya satu itu
Aku akan mampu membina satu dunia
Yang penuh warna-warna
Yang tentunya ada terselit cerita bahagia
Kini yang sudah pasti
Duniaku sudah penuh dengan warna
Penuh dengan cerita bahagia, suka, duka
15 tahun yang kita bina bersama
15 tahun yang amat bermakna

P/s: Sayang, I love you with all my heart and soul, more than you’ll ever know...

19 years later...

Fun it was, indeed! I had a great time catching up with old KPP friends on Saturday at Delicious Dua Residency. Not many could make it to the event alas those who came really made it an eventful gathering. Seeing old friends again after almost 2 decades really brings back lots of memories. But I must say, the gals really aged well. All of us look very elegant as we mature. Some even look unrecognizably pretty! The guys however mostly grew sideways (and I thought only my significant other has this problem...phew!!!). But there were some exception of course, a particular friend look so stunning with his well built body and 6 packs. He looks fit enough to star in 300 (the movie)!

I also have to say this, I always remember the guys to be taller, but on that day almost all of them seem to look shorter, weird huh? Perhaps their horizontal growth has overshadowed them vertically. But then again, I wore a 2.5" sandal that day, hence I had a 2.5" elevated view advantage.

Moi, who was so excited that day, forgot to bring my camera...%#$*&@!!!! So I have to ‘borrow’ some photos from my friend (Thanks Eika for the amazing photos).

The gals who didn’t seem to age a day since we left KPP…


The whole group who attended the reunion


(Can you see the Guccis, Pradas, LVs and Ferragamos in the picture? Dasyat you!! and you should also check out the rides in the car park. We all have done well my friends. Kids, education can take you places. This group has proven it!)

The last group to leave


I say let’s meet up again soon people!

A sad day for Malaysians

[Note: Kids, this article may not be of interest to you]

It’s happening again…they have once again reversed their previous decision. The “lalang” government at its best. I have written a few articles about politics before and a particular article has caught the attention of some hardcore opposition members. I would like to make it clear again, I am neither pro government nor the opposition. I don’t like both sides. But I may be seen as pro government because I am NOT pro opposition (do you see the irony?). How could I support either side when all of them only have one thing in common – the interest of 1 thing at ANY cause (sometimes without making any sense); 1 individual, 1 group or 1 religion. Corruptions? I don’t even want to talk about it.

Anyway, so much has been said in the cyber space about the decision to revert the teaching of Math and English back to Bahasa Malaysia. I for one, don’t want to be left out *grin*. So, even though I promised not to write about politics again, I would like to have a say in this. I want to stand out and be counted too...I say yeehaaa to that!

Frankly, I have mix feeling about this. I have actually written briefly about this in an article entitled “To my friend, please don’t call me a terrorist” in March. I laud the previous Minister of Education for trying to elevate the standard of English at school by introducing English in Math and Science subjects. However, I don’t agree with their kelam kabut implementation when the teachers were not ready to teach in English at the beginning of the implementation a few years ago.

With the new ruling, I actually have two concerns:
1) The future of our children
2) The state of our current government

I’d like to talk about issue no. 1 first. I ask myself, will our children be less fluent in English when they learn Math and Science in BM? Will their standard of English decline over time? My answers is both YES and NO.

YES, if we rely totally on schools to cultivate the English speaking culture. So for those who live in kampong like where I come from, I feel sad for the children. They had the opportunity to learn at their tender age (unlike me who only had my chance after my SPM) but was taken away. It is a known fact that children who are exposed to certain learning at their early age tend to excel better. In this essence, they will feel more comfortable speaking in English as they grow older. So if you take that away from them, they’d need to get use to it again like what I had to go through almost 20 years ago. Thus, I say we are taking one step backward by reverting to teaching Math and Science in Bahasa.

NO, if we the parents take the extra mile to help the kids at home. But then again, taking that extra mile is very difficult for us parents, isn’t it? It’s easy said than done particularly for working parents. Even a full time mom like me doesn’t have enough time (nor the patient) to teach my kids at home.

We could only hope with the promise of more English teachers (and hopefully QUALITY English teachers) we could maintain or improve the standard. Hopefully no more of teaching English in Bahasa like my English teacher, Cikgu Salleh did. I remember he used to teach us: “I” tunang dia “am”, “she” tunang dia “is”, bla bla bla…. Come to think of it, I guess I have come a long loooong way.

Nonetheless, I strongly feel that ALL English teachers should have TESL qualification and perhaps we could even have two English classes instead of one. But learning without practising could be futile. That's why we need to teach some other subjects in English too, perhaps less important subjects like arts and PE (for crying out loud!)?

On to my second concern, the state of our government. I’ve also written an article about this in my other article entitled “My take on the toll hike U turn decision” also in March. Did you notice that our government often succumbs to pressure? This is so obvious after Tun M stepped down. When certain quarters demand something they’d easily reverse their previous decision. We’ve seen this in the toll hike U turn, petrol price hike and now the English issue. All for the sake of winning the next general election, sad but true. They are more like “lalang” - could never stand firm on its own principle in the presence of pressure. Now we know why Hishammuddin was re-designated as the Minister of Defense. Perhaps because he would never agree to reverse the decision should the status quo remains.

Enough said, I wonder what will they do next to win the heart of those perceived as the majority. I say the majority is always silence. It’s the minority that always makes plenty of noises… A sad day for Malaysians indeed.

Indah khabar dari rasa

I am backkkk…. I am now officially working for my kids. They have been chasing for a new article tirelessly every day. Hence, apart from being their driver, their cook and their encyclopedia, I am also their writer. When I tell them that I got nothing to write about, they’d be more than happy to offer some ideas…but mostly ideas that are totally out of my radar. So here I am today fulfilling my duty to my kids to write.

I’ve been craving for doughnuts these couple of days. More specifically I wanted to try Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Normally, whenever I have the craving I’d drive to Sunway Pyramid to get some from jCo. We always prefer jCo than Big Apple. Back to the days before Malaysia was invaded with doughnuts attack (the days when Dunkin’ Donut was the only option available), I’ve heard so many testimonials from people who have tried Krispy Kreme overseas, my other half included. So, moi not being a savvy travelers, waited for Krispy Kreme to come to the Malaysian shores instead. And wait was what I did until yesterday.

I decided to drive to Mid Valley to get a couple dozen of the much awaited doughnuts. I always buy 2 dozens at a time, a dozen plain and a dozen of mix variety. Sadly to say, they disappoint me. It’s not as good that I thought it would be, too sweet and a bit too crispy to my liking – typical American doughnuts. My kids agreed too. We prefer jCo the best. But at least my curiosity is answered. No more driving all the way to Mid Valley for Krispy Kreme for me!

I say don’t believe everything you hear, read and see until you experience it for yourselves… Some things are "indah khabar dari rupa", in this case, "indah khabar dari rasa".

Just for a good laugh

I got this in my email a few weeks back. The sender claimed that it was taken from Patrick Teo's blog. I like this article very much and moi being born in the 70's find it to be very relevant to my childhood. Hence, Patrick, I'm quoting you here in my blog...jangan marah haa.

~~~~~
To All those Born in the 40's, 50's , 60's, 70's & early 80's...
First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked /cleaned while taking care of us at the same time.

They took aspirin, candies floss,fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles/ motorcycles for 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat.

We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle.

We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.

We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.

With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best) we boys would ran like crazy for hours.

We catch guppy in drains / canals and when it rain we swim there.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually worry about being unhygenic.

We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang, but we weren't overweight because.......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. AND WE DONT HAVE HANDPHONE S TO BUG US. And we were O.K. AND WE ARE SAFE.

We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
~~~~~

I say, Patrick Teoh, you got it spot on! I was just telling my second son during lunch today how I used to climb trees and played there for hours, and sometime cried when I can't get down on my own yet still managed to get down without help. He was amazed listening to the story. I guess he never would have thought that his momma could climb trees. Those were the days.... I wish I can be an 8 year old kid again.