Life's a box of chocolate

Sorry, this blog is no longer maintained!

2006-07-14T03:38:00.000+08:00

Sorry to announce that this blog is no longer maintained. I've moved to a new blog entitled "A woman, a mum, a lover...".

Please feel free to go over there. See ya!

More about me..

2005-12-28T09:10:00.000+08:00

FULL BIODATA

I’m the eldest of 4 siblings. Born in Seremban, N. Sembilan on 1972. My family now stays in Malacca, the historical city of Malaysia.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Graduated from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang with B.App.Sc (Hons) in Applied Science (Biology). Like everyone else, I am supposed to be a doctor but because I hate Chemistry then and realizing that I cannot even dissect a dead rat, I chose this course instead. Anyway, it appeared later that I’m not cut for it either. Had also completed a short general course in translation coz I believe at that time I love anything related to writing.

STATUS

Happily married to my gorgeous high school sweetheart and has 2 kids. One 7 year old girl and one 3 year old boy. They complete me..

LOVES

-Reading inspirational and thought-provoking stories and almost everything from product leaflets to newspapers, books and magazines.
-Movies- especially romance, comedy, horror, Latin and French ones.
-Traveling- a costly hobby and hardly have the budget for it actually. But dreams of visiting the whole world one day! Dreams indeed bring us far..
-Chocolate! You can say I’m a bit of a chocoholic since I must have at least a spoonful of Milo powder everyday if I cannot bite a chocolate.

HATES

-Cruelty and violence. My life is full of positive environment and happiness.. at least that’s what I believe it is. Cannot stand abusive people and lack of respect for human being.

PHOBIA

-Cats. I truly believe cats are cute animals and worth being loved and cared for. Unfortunately I have this indescribable fear (that’s what phobia is actually.. you don’t know why it happens) for this beloved animal of our Prophet Mohamed.
My sister loves cat but was forbidden from keeping one because I kept screaming and climbing the table top whenever the poor cat wander around in
the house.
However, maybe it’s fated by God that I married a cat-lover! He even slept with cats before we got married. Even though I still cannot bear staying in a room with a cat.. let alone a house, I had found the courage to let him feed 3 stray cats every day in our kitchen. This is because I want my kids to love cats and not be like me. The memory of being teased and threatened with cats by my naughty classmates during schooltime is not a nice one to remember. And I won’t let them feel the same thing.

FAVOURITE MALE SINGERS

-Mark Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, M. Nasir, Aris

FAVOURITE FEMALE SINGERS

-Siti Nurhaliza, Kelly Clarkson

FAVOURITE ACTORS

-Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Tom Hanks, Afdlin Shauki, M.Nasir

FAVOURITE ACTRESS

-Liv Tyler, Natalie Portman

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT ME

My sister says: Wise, arrogant, sometimes look down on people
My other half: Stubborn, soft and …
My ex-boss: Too soft

WHAT I THINK OF MYSELF

Loving, friendly, active, smart, positive, soft

Bittersweet chocolate

2005-12-27T18:35:00.000+08:00

Tuesday 26 december,2005

Najid and Syafiqa

Allah has never failed to amaze me with His stock of surprises. One day you nicely plan your monthly or weekly activities; the customers to be visited, the actions need to be taken, important sales target to be achieved; and then suddenly all those plans shattered and abruptly changed in a split second. If Allah wants anything, He’ll just say “Kun”, faya kun. Whenever or whatever He wants things to happen, it just does.
My box-of-chocolate life was suddenly given a bittersweet surprise this week. Early morning on Sunday, December 18th, I merely pointed to My Darling a fluid-filled spot I found on Najid’s neck. I thought it’s just a ‘mata ikan’ or a skin condition called ‘fish eyes’. His question to me was “Isn’t it chicken pox?”

He was right. How can I miss the reddish, fluid-filled centres spots like that? There were more on other parts of the little boy’s body. I should have quickly recognized it of all other people. This very contagious disease has left a very memorable mark in my life, in fact in my hubby’s family also. I got the disease 3 weeks before my wedding day and spread it to almost everybody in his family since I was staying in his eldest sister’s house at that time. It didn’t even take pity to Wani, the newborn child of Shidah, his youngest sister. Just imagine Shidah had to suffer from the itchy spots all over her body and at the same time cope wit the challenges of being in confinement; breastfeeding and all.

Now Najid has it. It will take at least 12 days for him to fully recover and not be infectious anymore. Gosh! There goes all my plans of working harder; seeing customers for last minute sales, building rapport for next year’s plan, shopping for Christmas pudding and new clothes and everything. Having a child with chicken pox means having to confine him at home without contact with other non-protected children. He can’t be sent to the day care centre I used to send him to everyday. Iqa needs to be vaccinated to avoid her from getting the virus. And that means more money; aghh.. salary was not in yet at that time. It’s only the middle of the month.
I only have 2 days of annual leave left that I’ve been keeping aside for Iqa’s school orientation day. With the chicken pox coming, I was forced to use them all up. As if Allah knows my problems, Iqa was also visited by the virus two days later than Najid’s first. Dr Ravinder allows me 2 days medical leave (with stern warning that “your boss might not like it!”) For Iqa I have no choice but to invest on the most expensive medication available for chicken pox called ‘Zofirax’ which costs me RM 200 per bottle.She needs to recover fast to start schooling on the 3rd January. She has been waiting for that moment for years!

The bitter part is having to look after two active kids that do not understand why suddenly their bodies are itchy all over and they are confined in the house all day. But they sure love having their mum around all the time! Fortunately none had fever and they do not cry so much except for Iqa who keeps complaining tearfully that she feel itchy. If not because of the spots, they look perfectly healthy and happy. They eat as much as before even though both had dropped 1 kilo each.

It really irritates me when they spend the whole day watching their favourite DVDs (what else: Chicken Little, Lion King, Lion King 1 ½, Lion King 2, Garfield over and over again!) The sweet thing is Iqa, may be bored by the DVDs, had willingly ventured on her own to PC games; starting with simple ones like Disney’s Stanley, Finding Nemo, Shark Tale and etc. She used to be unhappy to try new things like that and once cried at the age of 5 just because she was too tired to crack her head thinking how to win the games. At least this way she can try new challenge and outdo herself. My Adik had commented once that I need to expose her to PC games coz it’s useful to challenge her analytical skills.

Before all this happens, I had secretly wished to shop for some Christmas stuffs once my salary is in. There are so many SALES everywhere and the Christmas decorations are so fantastic. Don’t get me wrong. I am a Muslim and religiously do not celebrate Christmas. But since the first day I read about Christmas and the celebrations in my How and Why Library series of thick books mum bought me 24 years ago, I fell in love. I don’t have to be a Christian to celebrate it, especially in Malaysia where the spirit of muhibbah is so strong! My idea of celebrating is only indulging in the sweet, hot and sticky Christmas pudding, the rich cherry-choc cake and if I’m lucky a halal roasted Turkey. But of course those things are out of reach this year since I am homebound. There’s no big western mall near my area that bothers to stock up on all those things. Aaahh, what a loss!

While I was busy cooking and playing a devoted mother to the kids, the phone never stop ringing. Customers called every now and then mentioning product complains and enquiries. I have no choice but asking helpful colleagues to cover up for me. One customer from Terengganu even went to the extent of threatening to stop using my product if I do not visit him. My compassionate boss sent SMS asking about my kids’ health and at the same time giving unsaid message that sounds, “When are you going to start working again? We need sales!” I can’t help feeling guilty for him since the year’s closing date is just around the corner and I’m hopeless here. Not much can be done by only calling customers through phone. Eye contact is still more powerful.

But I believe everything happens for a reason. Allah may want me to take some time out for the kids. I get to focus on Iqa’s preparation for school like putting plastic covers on her text books, neatly arranging her clothes and prepare her mind with Year 1 lessons. I can experience how it feels to be a housewife; looking after the house, cooking and have more time for myself. Najid and Iqa now had become very close to the two stray cats we used to feed. They are Kiki and Buruk. Najid no longer hesitate to carry cats and he even try hard to force the cat to sleep next to him in front of the TV. Iqa is getting more and more comfortable with the cats. I realized she started to be more motivated since we met her cousin Sarah few weeks ago. Sarah also loves cats and likes placing the feline on her shoulder. I caught her doing the same thing to Kiki recently.

Today is my last day on leave. I’ll start work tomorrow but the kids will still be homebound. My Darling will be taking off days for tomorrow and the day after. And the next day, mum, Ayu and Abah are coming to take over. That’s the power of having extended family! With that, I’ll close this year’s curtain surrounded by love and affection from all the people that I dearly love. Chicken pox, indeed is bitter, but it leaves sweet aftermath that united us all!

Today is my birthday!

2005-12-27T17:49:00.000+08:00

December 16, 2005
Today is my birthday! Many times before I have imagined taking a day off on my own very special day; just spend the whole day pampering myself. I’ve dreamt of going to beauty salon and get the best facial and massage package offered. Then, I’ll spend the rest of the day watching movies in TGV or GSC. I even suggested going out together with Iqa and she loves the idea. I’ll sneak her out from the day care centre and we’ll have girls’ day out. How nice! If only those things really materialize…

My birthday started at 12.15 a.m. with birthday wishes from my darling hubby and Iqa. She had been planning to give me few ‘creations’ of her own and straight away showed them to me at that time. They are a few pieces of papers with some unreadable scribbles on it (looks like money value), a piece of plastic wire nicely wrapped and something that looks like a half-completed hand-written card. I still love it and shower her with kisses and “thank you”. She always remember the date since the day she learnt about calendars and birthdays.

Ayu and ibu then sent me SMS early in the morning. Ayu gave me some eye-opening advices. Those words are more than enough for me. I realized that all these people are pillars of my life. They made me what I am now.

I still need to work today because of some urgent appointments that cannot be changed to other days. I don’t have budget to fulfill my dream today. The salary will only be in next week and the claims are slashed due to some old woman’s carelessness. Well, I tried to remind myself; money is not everything. I can always enjoy the day if I put my heart in it.
So, as soon as I have completed the chores and tasks given to me, I headed to 1-Utama, my favourite shopping mall in town.

In my mind, I planned to look for a small, decent birthday cake to celebrate with my kids. None of my kids managed to get cakes on their birthdays this year due to monetary obstacles I had on those days. So, this would be a ‘3 in 1’ birthday celebration. But disappointment quickly sipped through my heart as I looked at the nicely decorated caked in the glass displays. It’s the same everywhere I go. All the cake houses are having Christmas promotions and the prices are jacked up much higher than usual. A tiny chocolate cake now costs RM30! And I really can’t afford that price; not for just a small cake. I’d rather spend that amount for a more filling dinner.

So, there I was, strolling aimlessly in the whole building; stopping by at any shops with the banner ‘SALE’ hang in front of them. I feast my eyes on party dresses, dinner hand bags, children dresses, books and even Christmas decorations. I bought Christmas candy sticks for the kids and a sinful chocolate ball to gobble up with sharp pain in my heart. We have no birthday photo with cakes this year. The kids might not understand what’s so important about cakes. They are just as happy as any other days. But I feel so down, so failed. It is still about money..

8 things I love to do while stuck in traffic jam

2005-12-27T17:38:00.000+08:00

Friday, December 15, 2005

I’m paid to enjoy traffic jam. So, like it or not, traffic jam is part of my job. And instead of complaining and stressing my heart out of it, I had listed down certain things that I can do to keep myself happy throughout the ordeal.

1.Keep food stock in the car
One radio ad mentioned that women eat when they are stressed, men invade another country. Very true. Eating is much more satisfying when you are confined alone in the little space of your car (unless you drive a Naza Ria or an Unser, or machines bigger than those two). I like stocking up Mars, Kit Kat and cough sweets. And plenty of mineral water to wash them all down.

2.Read newspapers
If situation is as bad as nowadays, when the ASEAN SUMMIT is on, you can even finish reading two different newspapers. But please don’t forget that you’re behind wheels. It’s irritating though when people have to honk you coz you’re too absorbed with the sensational news (must be the ear squat video clip!).

3.Beauty check-up
This is the perfect time to check on the reflector mirror whether my compact powder was properly puffed or not; whether I smeared any lipstick while rushing to get ready and at the same time putting up with Najid’s fight every morning. Sometimes I detect the concealer applied too thick or thin in my haste. And as I notice, more and more people will enjoy picking their nose when the car is stalled. We ladies can do so but please use a piece of tissue paper, not your beautiful well-lotioned fingers!

4.Listen to radio programmes and participate
Thanks to AMP Radio Network the radio stations now are much more lively and interactive. You can just enjoy the songs and contests held or you can opt to take part via SMS or phone calls. You can also play a role of good citizen by reporting any jammed areas to help others avoiding them. I haven’t participated in anything so far. Just enjoy the songs and mumble about the lengthy nonsense uttered by the DJs.

5.Observe human nature
Since there are so many cars and so many human souls trapped at the same place at the same time, I see so many characters here. The lorry drivers looked exhausted and annoyed. Some guys in shiny, sporty cars look splendid with their well-groomed hair style and well-cleansed faces. Did I see an earring on one ear? Could they be gays? One couple was kissing passionately in the hot, humid KL weather. A guy with a rough kind of face throw a to-hell-with-you look as he quickly cut queue in front of my car. Interesting!

6.Observe nature
Just try to appreciate how green KL is. Despite protests that we are ruining nature to progress, I find there are still plenty of trees in KL especially in along the Jalan Damansara-Tun Razak stretch. Some were left untouched to create their own natural greenery. Some are nicely pruned and potted to add beauty to the city. Well, kudos to the DBKL gardeners. They have done a good job!

7.Plan, make phone calls and SMS
This is the time for me to check the big organizer supplied by the management to evaluate my plans and progress. I’ll use the time to call up potential customers, make appointments, put orders and sometimes even catch up with old buddies. But again, do invest on hands-free kit for safety.

8.Car spring cleaning
There’s always pieces of tissue papers in the glove compactor or the door pockets. My kids kicked, eat and jumped in this car, okay. I’ll use this time to pick up the pebbles that are scattered on the front passenger seat, wipe some dust on the dashboard or clean the reflector mirror with tissue papers. All the food pieces will be collected and kept nicely in a plastic bag. There! I’m happy at least my car is clean until 6pm.

Picks of good food when you’re on budget

2005-12-27T17:19:00.000+08:00

Tuesday December 13, 2005
Being in sales, I spent at least 4 hours on the road. Traffic jams and burning sunrays has become my good friend every day. And most of the time, I got to eat alone. There are times when I invite customers to have lunch with me, but of course that will only happen when my boss accompany me or towards the end of the month. Otherwise, money problemlah! I do sometimes call up friends to meet and eat together but not every time we can do that because we cover different areas and have different itinerary.

However, I kind of love eating alone because I can choose my own eating place and finish the meal at my own speed (I cannot afford to spend time eating too long; got to chase sales!). And being on the road all the time allows me to sample many different kinds of food. Since we are in Malaysia, food is aplenty around the clock; with lots of varieties. So, I’ve listed down my choice of good places to eat without stretching your wallet. The food is yummy and the price are reasonable.

Local food:
1)Kayu Nasi Kandar SS2, P. Jaya.
Try the nasi kandar here; it’s one of a kind. The price is normally less than RM7 unless you take the big cuttlefish and other fried seafood. And don’t forget to get the calamansi (yellow assam ) drink to help burning those calories from the spicy curry.

2)Mi Bandung House, near Tawakal Specialist Hospital
This is the only place I can find the authentic Mi Bandung Muar in KL. The gravy is out-of this-world; and served with generous beef, prawn and eggs. It reminds me of the mi bandung we used to eat under the Muar bridge those days with abah.

3)My Mum’s Chicken Rice, Ampang.
I tried this restaurant because I’m a fan of Linda Onn, one of the owners and also my favourite radio D.J. But I find the chicken rice really tasty and the servings are big. They also have calamansi drink here.

4)Hotplate mee stall, Giant Shah Alam Stadium
My favourite is the hotplate yee mee with black pepper. It’s really hot and spicy. They even added cuttings of dried chilli. So it’s blazing all over!

5)Lontong Mak Yah, SS14 Wet Market, PJ.
This is my favourite breakfast. A bit heavy coz it is served with sambal kacang, cuttlefish and dried grated coconut. So, whenever I start my day with it, I’ll try to skip lunch.

6)Sate Kajang Hj Samuri, KESAS and GCE Highway
Because of this franchise group, I never have to go Kajang whenever I feel like eating sate. The sate comes with big chunks of meat and served with kuah sate and hot sambal.

7)Nasi lemak
This one comes from a nameless side way stall along the Jalan 13/1, Petaling Jaya manned by one Malay lady wearing a cap. It is only available in the morning. The sambal is up to my Malaccan standard (we Malaccan loves extremely hot sambal) and you can see people lining up along the road for it.

8)Kopitime, Atria Shopping Centre, Damansara Jaya
Among the delicious ones here are nasi lemak, asam laksa and mi kari.

9)Penang Village, TTDI & Taipan USJ
Authentic Baba Nyonya cooking. Loves the fried tang hoon and asam laksa.

10)Bee’s Café, Klang and USJ Taipan
Try the Pineapple Fried Rice. Served inside pineapple fruit with sate, sambal and keropok. Yummy!

Exotic food:
1.Cable Car, Jaya Supermarket
They have delicious steak here, but careful with the price. With the tax, you will end up paying more than RM20 for a simple meal!

2.Sushi King, available in almost all shopping centres
I know since I brought Ayu here, she has been craving for it all the time! But if I want to save some money, I’ll just pick up the plates from the revolving belt. And limit myself to maximum 3 plates only.

3.Nando’s
Loves the extra hot peri-peri.

4.Secret recipe
The spaghetti, lasagna, sinful cheese and chocolate cakes. Oh boy!

5.IKEA food court
I’m crazy for the baked salmon. At least once in 2 months you’ll find my car suddenly parked there. I’m not buying any furniture okay!

6.McDonald’s
Loves the porridge, Grilled Chicken Foldover and Prosperity Burger. Yes, It’s coming back soon!

7.KFC
Only loves Bandito pocket but sometimes long for the Hot & Spicy Chicken.

8.Long John Silver, Sunway Piramid
The grilled fish is heavenly. They serve only white fish here.

9.Cinnabon wheel cart stalls
If you love cinnamon roles, this one is right from heaven! The cinnamon is so rich and the sweet spicy taste really stays in your mouth for hours. My favourite flavour is the Classic one.

Well, there sure are many more top-of-the-class eateries but the price is also intimidating. The good point when you work with a multinational company is, you got the chance to eat in expensive places during meetings, lunch discussions and overseas trips. But, since you eat big, you’ve got to deliver big also! Chow, cincau…

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BOOK SECTION

I’m reading John Grisham’s The Last Juror right now. It’s one of those books that Ayu parked in my house. The first few pages were not interesting enough to get me hooked. Not like Harry Potter. However, now that things started to unfold, the story seems more entertaining and able to send my head bubbling with question marks. Let me finish this first and I’ll tell whether it’s a good read or not. Hopefully I won’t take too long.

Still thinking of Torey Hayden’s Tiger Child book, the one I saw in MPH last week. Promised myself that I’ll buy it straight away once the salary is in. Duit, duit, di mana kau duit…

SWEET.. BUT NOT SO SWEET..

2005-12-27T16:32:00.000+08:00

December 9, 2005
SWEET.. BUT NOT SO SWEET..

I attended a World Diabetes Day celebration in a government agency today. It’s part of my job really as this agency is one of my customers. Actually the real WDD is on November 14th (my mum’s birthday, that’s why I never forget!); so this is like a belated celebration. As usual it’s filled with talks and exhibitions.

For those who are not familiar with diabetes, it is actually a metabolic disease, which occur when you blood sugar is elevated. The hormone insulin in our body just fails to regulate or distribute sugar for it’s necessary use and thus create endless problems. It cannot be cured, but can be controlled.

She bravely pointed out her frustration of not being able to wear nice high-heels like other women. She has to wear a pair of special shoes for those affected by a condition called ‘diabetic foot’. As a normal woman, she said, she loves being beautiful and to be able to flaunt it. But that seems like a thing of the past.

She also voiced out women like her have higher possibility of being abandoned by their husbands. Not many male out there fancies the idea of having to walk beside a limped lady. They feel ashamed and burdened by a wife like this; no longer a sight to brag about.

That’s bad. It is sad but surprisingly true. After all the love showered all this while, the male’s heart easily shy away just because of something unfortunate like this happened. And I think each of us know it does not only happen because of the complications of diabetes. There are so many other disease or physical disabilities that can change one’s heart. It really makes me mad. Man!

Well…the moral of the story is we have to love ourselves. Nobody in this world can love us more than ourselves. So, you guys n gals out there.. and I’m telling myself too.. start looking after your health religiously. Life is too short to be marred with all these pain. Never allow incurable disease like diabetes to climb on you..if you can help it (there are cases where it happens because of the genes and the unknown blunders in our own body). My mum’s a diabetic too. In fact, it is quite common today for us to find someone being a diabetic or related to one. It’s 8% of Malaysian population now, mind you.

Having said that, I’ve just eaten my usual slice of bread with Milo powder spread generously on it tonight. So I’m making a mental note here to exercise the first thing tomorrow morning! Chow!

There was one forum held with a doctor, a dietician and a diabetic patient as the panel members. What intrigued me the most was the story related by the patient herself. Being diagnosed as a diabetic since the age of 22 (she is now 57), she had had a turmoil life initially full of self-denials and anger. She did not give a damn on what the doctors were saying then and carried on having a full can of Coke for breakfast everyday. But sadly as it always happen to all other diabetics, she had to bear the consequences. One of her foot got injured and surprisingly took 4 years to heal. She is now is on the verge of being amputated but thank God she had started controlling her food intake and blood sugar level regularly this few recent years.

She bravely pointed out her frustration of not being able to wear nice high-heels like other women. She has to wear a pair of special shoes for those affected by a condition called ‘diabetic foot’. As a normal woman, she said, she loves being beautiful and to be able to flaunt it. But that seems like a thing of the past.