Ramadhan Day 20 : Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke 53 Malaysia

Today is the 20th day of Ramadhan.

MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!

That's all folks, till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederahan.


yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 19: Raya mood?

Today is the 19th day of Ramadhan. About 10 more days until Hari Raya @ Eid. Dah raya mood ke? Pasti kat Malaysia dah mula sibuk dengan persediaan hari raya. Boleh bayangkan lagu raya berkumandang di pusat-pusat membeli belah, bazaar Ramadhan dah mula jual baju raya, kasut raya, kuih raya, semua raya laaa. Radio pulak tak henti-henti dengan lagu raya, silih berganti, dengan carta top hits masing-masing. Orang ramai pun dah mula fikir raya, agenda raya, nak gi bank tukar duit raya, apply cuti raya. Hai..yang pastinya macam-macam urusan berkenaan raya.

Den pun dah terasa mood raya harinie, sebab kawan-kawan mula membincangkan hal rumah terbuka raya kat sini. Sini sambutan raya memang kalah kalau kat Malaysia, rumah terbuka sampai ke tengah malam, juadah raya macam buffet tu, itu satu rumah, biasanya tak kurang dari 4 rumah buat rumah terbuka. Yang makanan jadi macam-macam ala ala buffet table tu, sebab lazimnya rumah terbuka kat sini berkonsep join raya, ahaa, 2 3 student/family kongsi buat rumah terbuka. Masak sama-sama, hidang sama-sama, lepas tu ada giliran rumah. Selalunya tetamu pernah cecah 200 orang, yela student bujang kan ramai, jadi kalau buat sorang-sorang, mau hidang air kosong biskut kering aje nanti...ahahhahahahah... Jadi raya kali nie, den pun join la kengkawan untuk rumah terbuka nie. Lagipun kami tahun nie menanamkan dasar rumah tertutup...ahahhahahahha... rumah den serabut la, ngan kotak-kotak, kertas-kertas atas meja, errr lagipun memang tak sempat la nak jamu orang bagai, bulan September nie lagi hectic schedule den.

OK laaaa.. kata hectic kan, jadi minta diri dulu. Till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

p.s. ada kes terbaru buang bayi kat Shah Alam semalam, adoiii...bulan puasa nie!!! sedih tul laaa...

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 18: 'Post-annual Iftar' story

Today is the 18th day of Ramadhan. Yesterday, after the gotong royong and iftar I was worn-down completely. I thought of laying lazily on the sofa, watching what ever was on TV, but I have a pile of clothes waiting for folding and ironing. Arrghhh....ku kumpul seluruh tenaga dan kekuatan minda untuk menyiapkan the last chore for that day. At 10 I told atang that I don't have any more energy, and quickly climbed up the sofa bed at the living room (that has been our regular bed for a number of months now), pull up the duvet and slowly went to sleep. Why did I said slowly, because adik was still active and widely awake. She had a long afternoon nap at home, while I was helping out at the gotong royong. Adik will always feel uneasy whenever I sleep before she does, and she will then starts to do something to wake me up, adoiyaaaa.... and I have this bad temper whenever someone disturbs me when I am sleeping, especially in the first few minutes. So apa lagi, I was really mad last night. According to atang, adik was really scared and merajuk. She even cried to sleep. Aiyoh, I was a bad mom last night, but can't really help it la adik. Your mom memang macam singa bila dia dah ngantuk and penat sangat. There are three situation that you don't want to mess with me; 1) ngantuk yang tak boleh lawan dah, 2) lapar dan 3) don't let me wait for you, 10 minit ok lagi, tapi kalau dah lebih 1/2 jam, bersiap sedia la dengar leteran tanpa henti dari den...yup, that's me. Ok nie dah mula merepek.

OK pasal gotong royong semalam. This time the committee have delegated the food preparation according to kampung. Kampung nie suburb yang mana ada ramai student malaysia duduk. My kampung kena buat acar dan satu jenis kuih. The menu was nasi tomato, ayam masak merah, acar, some kuih, air sirap. Buat acar tu ok laa, oh ye, we have to prepare for 450 people, that means 450 packs to be ready before breakfast time. For the kuih, our kampung chief decided to make onde-onde aka buah melaka aka kelepung (den panggil kuih kelepung, tapi den tak pasti nie bahasa nogori ko bahaso apo). Kuih kelepung tu kena buat 3 biji sorang, so kalau 450 pack, korang bayangkan berapa banyak kuih kelepung kena buat. Yup 1350 biji...haaaaa... Maka gentel la kami sebanyak itu, tapi tak sebanyak itu laaa... I didn't know how much they managed to get, because I got to leave early yesterday. I left the gotong royong place at 4 pm, about an hour and half before breakfast time. Tapi sebelum balik tu dah dapat about 250 packs. Mula-mula potong sayur dulu untuk acar, dalam kul 1 ptg baru start operasi buat kelepung, masa untuk berbuka pulak pukul 5.30 ptg you all!!

 Dengan pekerja-pekerja yang diimport khas dari Malaysia (kami la tu) seramai lebih kurang 10 orang wanita, masing-masing telah diberi kepercayaan untuk menjalankan tugas masing-masing iaitu, menggentel tepung, memasukkan gula ke dalam tepung, mencedok kuar kelepung yang sudah terapung, menyalut kelepung dengan kelapa dan membungkus kelepung. Ada pekerja yang diberi tugas lebihan seperti penyediaan tepung bila bancuhan hampir habis dan memasukkan kelepung ke dalam air untuk direbus. hahahahahah punya detail den memberi penerangan. Tapi kisah kelepung nie memang paling best semalam, sebab nak kejar masa dan kejar target sebanyak 1350 tu. Tapi den tak tau la berapa banyak yang dapat pada akhir garisan ehhh..nak dekat2 buka puasa tu. Kisahnye tepung habis sebanyak 16 peket, so kawan-kawan cakap, habis tepung habis la tugas membuat kelepung tu, sampai import suami masing-masing yang ada masa gotong royong tu, tolong sekali menggentel buat kelepung tu...ahahahhahah... Lepas tu semua tak larat nak pergi join iftar, last-last ada yang tolong ambilkan makanan dan bawa ke tempat gotong royong tu (rumah kawan) dan ramai-ramai buka kat situ. Den n family gi surau untuk buka puasa sebab atang kat rumah kan. End up tak ramai yang show up pada majlis tu, banyak juga la makanan yang lebih termasuk kuih kelepung yang disasarkan sebanyak 1350 bijik tu. Moral of the story....jgn buat kuih kelepung untuk majlis sebegini lagi, kecuali kalau ramai pekerja dan banyak masa. huhuhuhuh...

Ok itu kisah semalam. Harinie den menyelesaikan chapter yang tertangguh hari jumaat, alhamdullillah dah siap dah, malam nie nak siapkan satu lagi bahagian. Harap dapat siapkan sebelum tido. Harinie juga den masak sup tulang, senang aje jerang atas dapur, sambil tu bleh buat kerja. Dan petang tadi, bersama yaya n adik, den gi bazaar ramadhan untuk carik kuih.

Bazaar Ramadhan 2010

Tak ramai pulak orang berniaga hari nie, den dok bayangkan macam-macam pilihan kuih sampai rambang mata. Sebab minggu lepas tgk status FB masing-masing yang pergi bazaar, macam-macam kuih diorang beli. Dari bazaar, kami beli nie:

Kuih-muih on our table today

Tu dia, penuh meja kami untuk berbuka tadi. Semua sedap-sedap. Alhamdullillah....

OK laaa.. that wrap up our Ramadhan story for today. Got to go and complete my writing. Till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.


yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 17: Gotong royong for iftar

Operasi potong memotong untuk acar dan gentel2 buah melaka.

Ramadhan Day 16: Exhausted

Today is the 16th day of Ramadhan, been focusing on the amendment of my first draft this week, and hava another week to come up with a polish and succinct draft. Arrggghhhhhhh penatnye. My sifoo said, "less is more", what he meant is, I should write concisely but able to deliver the idea clearly...aiyoyo... I admit, I am very poor in writing, always finding it hard to elaborate and convey ideas clearly, and now I should do it in a condensed way.... Mak capek oiiiiii.... takpe2...sabar2...sikit aje lagi (ayat memujuk diri).

Apology not having anything else to write here rather than rambling about my writing. I guess the story of Ramadhan is getting dull ya. Well, life is ordinary after all...chewahh.... Anyway, tomorrow would be something worth telling, if I have the time to do that. Because tomorrow, we gonna have our annual iftar. Alhamdullillah, I am off from cooking...hahahaha... In the morning there's gonna be a gotong royong memasak, yeaaa... a break from all this writing, am so looking forward for both the gotong royong and the iftar tomorrow, InsyaAllah. Will try and blog while gotong royong is in progress, otherwise I will not have time to write about it tomorrow.

OK laaa.. need to continue with the writing. Bila nak abis nie!! Till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.


yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 15: Selamat menyambut hari kemerdekaan yg ke 53 Malaysia tanahairku

Today is the 15th of Ramadhan. I can't wait for the Eid, but I don't want Ramadhan to end as well.

I have very tight schedule today, so can't write anything specific. I want to share a video that a friend posted on my FB public wall, a video that is related to our beloved country independent day. Merdeka kah kita? A question that you can only answer.



Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan ke 53 Malaysia
Till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 14: We are 9 and the farewell

Today is the 14th day of Ramadhan. We nearly half-way through the Ramadhan. Are we prepared for the lailatulqadar?

Today is a very special day for us. 9 years ago, after maghrib, I officially became atang's wife. 9 years ago we began our journey together. We went through ups and downs together, were tested in various ways, we overcame many obstacles, learnt to accept things beyond our expectation, compromised and sacrificed for the benefits of each other. Alhamdullillah, we are still together and hope we will be together until death do us part, and reunite in heaven. Amin.

Yesterday I bid farewell to my sparring partner cum research colleague cum a good friend. We met over 3 years ago, when I started my PhD journey. We shared a lot of things together, from research, gossips and to personal problems. There were many occasions that we cried on each other shoulder, or infront of each other laptop while chatting through the instant messaging facility. I was so grateful that I met such a sweet but strong girl, and that's why I was devastated yesterday when we had the last chat. I almost cry infront of her but quickly turn my head around. Hahahahah very emotional yesterday. I can't believe that she's going to leave soon. I will gonna miss her, don't know if I could look at her empty workstation, the place that she used to occupy 5 days a week, next week. Lan, you will be missed.

the last picture

I have to stop right now, can't control my emotion anymore. Until we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.
yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 13: Mulai harinie delete terus dari kamus diri

Today is the 13th day of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah it is sunny today. Today is an important day for me, my friend is going home for good this Sunday, and today is the last chance for me to see her for the very last time. This morning she presented her research as a rehersal for her actual seminar that is going to be held at her home country. Ahhhh sedih pulak rasa hati den nih, and feeling nervous at the same time, because soon it is going to be my turn. Bila dah dekat nih, rasa macam belum bersedia pulak untuk submit. Dulu rasa tak sabar aje nak submit, sekrang nie rasa tak nak pulak. Aduhai.... moga urusan den di sini dimudahkan...amin

OK in relation to the title, somebody share me an interesting note on FB yesterday, which I am copying here:

Perkataan "BYE" merupakan jarum sulit org Kristian... Di dlm bahasa Arab b'maksud "fihafzil baba ". Manakala dlm bahasa Malaysia b'maksud di Bawah Naungan Pope(paderi). Jadi foward dan sebarkan kepada semua shbt2 anda. Semoga Allah memberi rahmat kpd kita dan org Islam yang lain. Wassalam di Universiti Putra Malaysia. Itulah satu-satunya Universiti yang ada gereja. Gereja ini antara yang aktif untuk memurtadkan orang Islam. kalau ada saudara kita terminum 'Holy Water'. Sebenarnya air ini dibuat di Vatican City. Dijampi oleh paderi termasuk Pope John Paul yang jemput Perdana Menteri kita dulu! . Kalau terminum, cari air kolah dari 3 masjid. Baca Al-Fatihah 1x, Yasin 1x, 3 qul 1x, dan selawat. Ambil sebahagian buat minum dan sebahagian buat mandi. InsyaAllah mereka akan sedar dan dapat diselamatkan.insyaAllah. tolong fowardkan ... demi islam... demi agama yang tercinta...insyaallah... forwardkan mesej ini..""

So as usual, I used answers.com to find out more. I should used the web engine to find relevant articles, but I really have limited time, so one search is enough la. And I got this from answers.com:
from answers.com, search word "Goodbye"
[Alteration (influenced by good day) of God be with you.]

WORD HISTORY No doubt more than one reader has wondered exactly how goodbye is derived from the phrase "God be with you." To understand this, it is helpful to see earlier forms of the expression, such as God be wy you, god b'w'y, godbwye, god buy' ye, and good-b'wy. The first word of the expression is now good and not God, for good replaced God by analogy with such expressions as good day, perhaps after people no longer had a clear idea of the original sense of the expression. A letter of 1573 written by Gabriel Harvey contains the first recorded use of goodbye: "To requite your gallonde [gallon] of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes," recalling another contraction that is still used.

hmmm....adeh...kita terpedaya lagi!!!.... Dah jumpe bukti ini, walaupun satu aje, tak cukup beri bukti yang kukuh kan, am sure if I google the word I would find many related articles, tapi sudah cukup untuk menanam azam untuk buang terus perkataan itu dari kamus diri. Lepas nie cakap, C U aje laaa kat orang2 bukan Islam. Antara muslim dah tentu bagi salam kan. So korang macam mana?

Now about iftar, yesterday it was the same old normal day, so we had rice, and some kuih. Kuih keria from my neighbour, which atang call it 'donut melayu', and kuih bakar that I made, eh both were made on Sunday. Banyak sangat on Sunday, tu yg boleh bring forward. Atang pulak, he actually doesn't know the name of the kuih, and keep referring it as donut melayu. Pardon my atang, bab makan nie mmg glosari dia terhad...ahahahha and that's why he marries me...huhuhu....

Kuih bakar n my neighbour's keria

Ok laaa... got to go.... rasa sebak pulak dok teringat kawan nak balik dah. sob sob sob...She is busy packing her things at the workstation right now. We took some pictures around the office just now, sad pulak rasa. Her journey is going to end soon. Soon she will have the prefix 'Dr' on her name.

yours truly,
 

Ramadhan Day 12: Kengantukan

Today is the 12th day of Ramadhan, and I am feeling sleepy right now. I slept early last night, felt exhausted, probably due to the late nights I had couple of days ago. And now I still feeling sleepy, maybe had a lot of sleeping yesterday, plus it is cloudy with occasional rain. Adik is busy with her phone, an old phone of mine that I hand it down to the kids. She loves scribbling on the phone, and can spend a long time doing it. Aiyah, my eyes are getting heavier pulak.


I forgot to update about Yaya eye. Apparently it was not conjunctivitis as I have assumed. Alhamdullillah, probably her eye was dry and itchy, something got into her eye maybe. But the redness has subsided. We bought eye drop and applied it to her right eye. Days before that she had this 'ketumbit'. This ketumbit thing has been in my family for generation. You know how ketumbit so itchy right, maybe yaya been scratching because of the ketumbit, and that thing burst. I noticed she no longer had it before the red eye incident occur. Anyway, alhamdullillah it is not an infection.

And I also forgot to say, or give an advise when you want to buy shoes in Brisbane. You have to be really carefully, because many many shoes selling here used pig skin as the inner sole. You all tau kan how to recognise pig skin, if not please visit this here. Usually shoes that is less than AUD50 used that skin as the lining, because it is cheaper. Kasut budak2 memang banyak, terutama kalau buatan dari C-H-I-N-A, tak kisah la apa brand pun. Contoh kasut C-L-A-R-K, susah nak jumpa yang tak pakai kulit tu. We all bila nak pilih kasut, kami pegang tapak kasut tu dulu, lepas tu belek-belek dalam dia, selalunye ada label yang bagitau insole dia leather ke synthetic. Kalau leather, ha kena la belek lebih-lebih sikit, besar kemungkinan kulit babi. Jadi hati-hati la kalau membeli kasut kat Brisbane nie ya.

OK..change topic. Last night I called up Abah. Abah has completed his 5 out of 10 times radio therapy treatment. He stays at the hospital, easy for the doctors and nurses to monitor his condition. He said he misses home. Adeh, bulan-bulan puasa nie, duduk hospital, sorang-sorang, dah la tak boleh puasa, lagi la rasa sedih aje kan. Mak is at home, yela, nak teman pun, mak bukan sihat. Lagipun InsyaAllah, abah ok, lagi la in good hands. So when I called him yesterday, "Bah, lambat angkat telefon". "Abah kat balcony, tengok2 kat luar ni haa...boring dok sorang2." Alahai...sedihnya dengar. Takpe bah, tak lame aje lagi. Dan tak lame lagi gak, cucu-cucu abah nie balik. Hopefully by Friday, all treatment is completed and he can go home to mak. Abah weight is worrying though. He needs to gain more weight to start chemo, which is scheduled after raya. His must weight at least 60+kg, and his current weight is 56 (wohooo, that's so much less than my weight). Before he was sick, he weight 70kg. Yup, he lost a lot of weight definately, I can't imagine how Abah looks like right now.

Ok laaa...that is the story for day 12th Ramadhan. I have about an hour to complete a task today, before fetching Yaya at her school. Then asar, after that I will start preparing iftar. Still have left-overs from yesterday's iftar, I cooked nasi ayam yesterday. Today ingat masak kari daging aje laaa. Till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 11: Spring has sprung?

Today is the 11th day of Ramadhan. Alhamdullillah, the weather is hot with mild wind today. I washed a load of clothes yesterday and today, opppsss not literally, the washing machine did that. And thankful for the sunny weather, the clothes dried up quickly. This morning atang and I had a bit of spring cleaning, eh dah spring ka? It is not until September for the spring to arrive, but it is getting warmer nowadays, I no longer have to wear jumper during the day, still need to wear pull-over at night, and still using quilts at night. Well, the kids kicked it away at night, I still pulled the quilts up to my head. I remember last year, somewhere in August, we thought that the winter was over, and it was time for spring cleaning. So I washed the quilt cover, jumper, changed the flannelette sheet, and stored them away. So confident that the winter has gone. And a few days later, it was cold again, end up I had to take out all the things that I had put away. So this year I will wait until spring to come, flowers blooming until I starts storing all the winter garmet. This time would be much easier, will put everything in the packing boxes, for give away and take home.

As I have mentioned in the previous entry, yesterday we went shopping instead of looking for used boxes. We went to DFO just to get new slip-on for my lil princesses. Each of them has a pair of slip-on for raya. For baju raya, hmmm not sure we will get them something new, because they still have several pairs of baju kurung from last year raya, some dresses and new t-shirts, so maybe we will buy when necessary. The shoes because yaya n adik don't have a nice pair of shoes to put on, and that was why we bought them each. Tak mo 'membrazir' (yaya slang of membazir). Although here the celebration boleh tahan juga, with open houses every weekend, tapi takkan sama like celebrating at home. So nak beli yang baru-baru pun macam kurang semangat sikit, plus I will definately busy after the eid, preparing for submission. I am more enthusiast with the submission than the eid preparation. Picture below shows yaya's n adik's raya shoes,

Raya shoes for lil princesses

Yesterday jugak was an election day for Australia. Tak tau pulak sape yang menang semalam. Sorry, malas nak ambil tau. Anyway, about iftar. A day before yesterday, that was Friday, mood malas nak masak tu datang. Actually I have no idea to cook, like I said in the Friday's entry. I was browsing through a few of my fav cyber chefs' blog until I saw encik Mat Gebu's sosej gulung rangup. I had a couple of instant pastry in the freezer, and I used them all, bagus2, habis kan semua, clear the fridge. Sausage puff for Friday's iftar.

Sausage wrap in instant pastry

Yesterday, since it was weekend, I spent my time in the kitchen and made mee kari. Our neighbour came and gave us mee goreng mamak.  

My neighbour's mee goreng mamak (she's penang mari)

For today's iftar, I going to cook nasi ayam, kuih, maybe kuih bakar kot. OK laaa...I need to fill up a form then packing some clothes that I am not going to wear anymore in the box. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana. 

  

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 10: Hunting for used boxes

Today is the 10th day of Ramadhan. Today we have a mission, hunting or buying a second hand packaging boxes. There is a shop at Logan selling new and used boxes and other packaging material, so we are heading there soon. But we need to go to the pharmacy first because Yaya is infected by conjunctivitis. I noticed she has been scratching her right eye yesterday, and have asked her to stop doing it. So this morning her right eye is puffy and red. Aiyoyoyo... last year pun camtu gak, until adik and I were infected too. Jangan la berjangkit nanti.

Eh...why laaa so many story about abondoned babies (eh should I say abandoned, because most of the cases main buang camtu aje... nie bukan keje manusia dah nie,  sedangkan haiwan pun ada rasa kasih sayang) in Malaysia lately. Sedih la wehhh.... korang takde akal ke? Isshhh...isshhhh... betul la orang cakap, love can kill. Bunuh perasaan kasih sayang, bunuh akal, bunuh iman, bunuh maruah.... adehhh.... at this stage everybody is to be blamed. Kita nie hidup saling berkait, so tak boleh la tunding jari satu pihak aje. Tapi yang paling den nak tegur nie, perempuan. Wahai perempuan yang belum berkahwin, jaga la maruah kamu, jaga la adabmu, jagalah agamamu. Perempuan, terpalit cacat  aje sikit, sikit aje, habis laaaa....Sebab tu kesan yang teruk kena kat perempuan, lelaki, haaa...they can easily escape and run away, sebab apa, yg perempuan nie jugak yang bawak perut, yang nampak buruknye perempuan la juga. So wahai perempuan yang belum berkahwin, takut pada Allah, ingat pada Allah, takut pada api neraka. Adeh...emotional pulak den. huhuhuhu.... Sebab emotional sangat, den pun teringat la lagu nie. Tapi takde kena mengena dengan kes buang bayi nie, cuma tajuk lagu tu "Love is a killer".



When I was young, during teenage years, ada la berangan untuk ada band. Wakakakakakkakak...the band consists of four of my cousins and me. Actully, all of us had professional training in music. And that was one reason why I dreamt to have a band. But it was a dream that never comes true, because education is the utmost priority in our big family. Well, I never wanted it to be real anyway. And none of my cousins know about this....shhhhhhh.... Each of them have their own position in the band, and guess who is the lead singer..... den la...wakakakakakkaka.... ahahahhahahaha... I am chuckling right now remembering that old days of berangan. Itu la orang kata angan-angan mat jenin. Ok...so this song is one of the fav my berangan band would play. hahahahha...ok I better stop now before I burst out laughing and the kids and atang will start wondering what am I doing infront of the machine.

OK...got to go. Atang has changed his mind, tak jadi gi carik kotak, instead we are going for raya shopping...huhu... carik kasut untuk budak-budak nie ha.... Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 9: Celoteh Yaya

Dah masuk hari ke 9 puasa. Dah tak tau apa nak masak dah, bila sibuk-sibuk nie rasa nak makan itu ini pun kurang, kalau ikutkan hati nak aje buka nasi dengan telur goreng aje...hahahhaha...tapi tak adil untuk atang dan yaya pulak. Pulak tu den dicutikan dari berpuasa nie, lagi la tak adil kan untuk orang yang berpuasa bila masak sempoi camtu yo. Tunggu weekend nie la kot-kot nak masak yang berat-berat sikit.

Ok...mood citer dalam bahasa ibunda den hari nie. Cuaca harinie tak la sejuk tapi tak la panas jugak, mendung kat luar, hujan awal pagi tadi. Nak berubah musim selalu camtu, hujan sekejap-sekejap, harap-harap hujung minggu nie tak la hujan, banyak baju nak basuh. Esok pun kami nak gi carik kotak untuk mula packing, tak boleh tunggu last minute, barang banyak. Almaklum 3 tahun lebih duduk sini, baju budak2 aje dah 3 kotak, baju mak abahnye dah baper, buku-buku, barang dapur mana nak bawak balik, mainan budak2 nie lagi. Jadi kena la packing awal-awal, mengurangkan stress yang memang sedia ada nie haaaa.

Harinie nak citer pasal yaya. Yaya nie masih lagi dalam peringkat belajar berpuasa, dia belum faham lagi kenapa kita wajib berpuasa, hukumnya dan nikmat berpuasa tu. Jadi kalau ada peluang untuk dia buka puasa tu, memang seronok la dia, macam hari sukan kelmarin, kami cutikan sebab tak nak dia buka puasa. Kalau ikut dia, dia sanggup aje buka puasa dan pergi sekolah. Mungkin sebab persekitaran kat sini, tidak menyokong dia untuk berpuasa. Den dulu masa kecik-kecik, nak buka sebab sakit ke, rasa ralat sangat. Sebab kawan-kawan semua puasa. Pulak tu bila jumpe kat surau untuk jemaah isya' dan tarawih, kawan-kawan mesti tanya, "kau puasa tak harinie?". Boleh kata soalan standard la bila jumpe kawan-kawan. Kat sekolah pun camtu gak, tengok segar semacam ke, aktif semacam ke, mesti kawan-kawan akan keluarkan soalan yang sama. Den nie pulak jenis yang happy sokmo yo, sampai ke universiti orang tanye soalan tu kat den. Adeh....

Ok...berbalik pada kisah yaya nih. Cabaran yang yaya kena hadapi bila berpuasa kat sini nie ialah, satu, cabaran kat sekolah, bila waktu rehat, tak boleh duduk kat kelas, jadi kena la kuar, lepak kat tempat-tempat lapang. Kat sini boleh makan kat mana-mana aje, takde tempat khas yang disediakan untuk makan. Jadi kat mana-mana yaya akan nampak orang makan, tapi tu kecik je cabarannye, sebab ramai kawan-kawan dia budak Malaysia, jadi sama-sama puasa. Cabaran yang paling besar untuk yaya, bila adik makan macam2 depan dia. Adik pulak jenis pemakan, kejap2 kang dia mintak biskut la, snek la, cokelat la, air itu la, air ini la, hahahahahha.... makan pulak depan kakak tu. Sabar aje la yaya tengok. Pernah sekali nampak yaya pegang fries, "Eh...yaya kan puasa" den cakap. "Tak...nie adik suh suapkan", yaya jawab. Adeh la adik....yang adik pulak tengah kunyah fries dengan penuh perasaan, yela, dia bukan tau ape-ape pun. Banyak kali la jugak lepas tu kalau adik nak makan ape-ape, suh dia makan ontok2 dulu jauh dari yaya. Kesian kat yaya tu.

Jadi satu hari nie, yaya terdengar den cakap ngan atang yang den tak puasa kan. Lepas tu dia tanye, "Mama, kenapa mama tak puasa?". Den pun bagi la alasan yang munasabah sikit. Lepas tu dia cakap, "Kenape Yaya kena puasa?" Ehh sudah, den pun cakap la, "yaya kena puasa sebab wajib, tak uzur macam mama". Lepas tu dia tanye lagi,"Aunty*** puasa tak?" Aunty *** nie merujuk kepada jiran selang sepintu dari kami. "Mama tak tau la Aunty puasa ke tak?". Lepas tu dia tanye lagi, "Aunty ### puasa tak?". Aunty ### pulak rujuk jiran seberang apartment kami nie. Haaa...dia mula la tu, dia ingat semua perempuan tak boleh puasa haritu. "Tak... Mama tak tau, bukan semua Aunty tak boleh puasa macam Mama harinie." Adeh... fenin kepala den nak terangkan. Lepas tu yaya boleh terima la yang dia kena puasa juga, tapi, ayat penutup bicara haritu yang paling mahal sekali, "Nanti Mama kena ganti tau". Haaa begitu la peringatan dari anakanda den yang sulung tu. Dia tau pasal ganti nie sebab dia minta untuk tak puasa hari sukan tu kan, jadi den cakap la, "Bukan boleh saje-saje buka puasa, kalau tak puasa kena ganti. Yaya nak ganti ke?", dia geleng kepala. Sekali dia balas balik kat den laaa.....

OK laa..itu aje untuk cerita harinie. Den nak sambung keje sikit. Lepas nie nak kena pikir ape nak masak untuk orang-orang berpuasa kat rumah nie ha. Sehingga jumpa lagi, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.


yours truly,
 

Ramadhan Day 8: Prioritise

Today is the 8th day of Ramadhan. Days are getting less colder now, the winter is leaving soon and spring is coming. Aaaaa...can't wait to see jacaranda blooming, for the very last time.

I received an invitation to review two papers for a conference this morning. I have reviewed several papers before, and I like the idea of providing feedback to the authors for improving their paper. It is not an easy job, especially you are reviewing papers that are not closely related to your research or field. I am very new in this field, have very limited knowledge, hence not able to provide a good constructive feedback especially on theory, but can provide feedbacks on the methods, writings and ideas on practical implications. However, normally each paper is reviewed by least two reviewers, thus the paper got the advantage from other people opinion as well, not solely from my opinion. Nevertheless, I enjoy doing this. Thank you for my sifoo for recommending my name to the editors of several publications. This is a valuable experience indeed, an opportunity that I never thought I will get. But this time, I have to reject the invitation and recommend someone else to take the job (mind you it is pro bono). I totally can't do it now, time is pressing me, really bog down to accept other things right now (my sifoo has just assigned me to another task...hohoho). I have to prioritise. I hope this opportunity will cross my way again.

OK I guess that is what I want to write today. Yesterday's iftar we had ayam halia and telur dadar, am getting lazy to take picture and post it here.Not important right. After sending yaya to school today, I stopped at the local grocerer to buy kangkung, my plan is to fry nasi goreng kampung for iftar today. I wasn't lucky because there is none, so I bought a cabbage instead. I saw cavendish banana, bought them, and will fry the banana too.

So..till next time, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 7: Alhamdullillah ramai dah artis bertudung

Today is the 7th day of Ramadhan. Pejam celik pejam celik dah nak masuk seminggu kami berpuasa kat sini, alhamdullillah.

Last year and two years ago, I was looking forward for the Eid celebration, counting the days, marking the calendar, because I celebrated the Eid with families back home. But this year, I still mark the calendar, counting the days, not just for the Eid celebration, but meeting datelines. Luckily the Eid will be on Thursday or Friday, the end of the week. Can get away for awhile from working, hopefully. Hope we will have memorable celebration here (tetiba pulak sebak). But definately Eid celebration here is more merrier with loads of open houses in the weekends. Our preparation? Biasa-biasa aje laaa... cannot say right now, got loads of things to do before that.

OK, so Yaya is staying home today, we decided to "mencutikan" Yaya because of the sports day. Atang have already email her teacher about her absent and the reason. Eventhough we can allow Yaya to skip fasting today, but we don't want her to get use to the idea of skipping. I found it is difficult to explain to her when she asked if she can skip fasting. Hope when we are back home, with the islamic surrounding she will understands more about fasting, and the beauty of it.

For iftar yesterday, I came back late from the office, so I was like "lipas kudung" cooking in the kitchen. Luckily I have some leftovers lauk in the fridge, so for iftar I fried mee hoon, the lauk was for sahur this morning. So no picture today.

And about the title, early this morning as usual I will check on emails, FB and this blog. I saw an entry on my bloglist about a few Malaysian artist who recently decided to wear hijjab. Alhamdullillah. I read their hijrah story (posted by the author in the blog), and was so moved by their story. Hidayah dari Allah, tak sape boleh jangka. One of their story was similar with what I have experienced when I decided to put on the hijab. I was so anxious to know and understand about hijjab for I have received so many article about the punishments during the after life for those women who didn't cover their aurat. I have spoken to my friends about it, and alhamdullillah, one day I decided to wear hijjab, on the first day of Ramadhan 1416H (in the year 1995).

OK laaa.. Jom baca kat sini kisah artis yang telah berhijrah. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

p.s. Thank you kak Wa for posting that wonderful story.

yours truly,
 

Ramadhan Day 6:Nervous

Today is the 6th day of Ramadhan. Aaahhhh... so busy and tired today. Had meeting with my sifoo to set the date for my final seminar. Tentatively I will present my findings the first week of October. I feel so nervous right now.With the dateline nearing, have to work more efficiently and effectively. Rabbi yassir wa la tua'ssir.

Ok relaks sekejap. Mesti ramai ngantukkan tengahari nie...Jom layan lawak kartun Lambok nie. Somebody drop this comic in my mailbox. But you have to click on the picture to read. Tak pun pakai kanta pembesar. hehehhe

hahahhahhaha...kena pakai terompah giant tok imam tu...OK now the cooking part. Yesterday, I cooked sambal ikan bilis and fry some of the frozen karipap. Simple aje, cukup la kan...

Sambal ikan bilis tak podeh

Tomorrow, it's a sports day at Yaya's school. I am in dilemma to let her go to school or stay at home. Because she is fasting, though she doesn't involve in any of the activity she needs to be at the field, under the hot sun. I will let atang decides on this.

OK laaa.. time to pack up and go home. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.
yours truly,
 

Ramadhan Day 5: Enthusiasm

Today is the 5th day of Ramadhan. The busy week starts again, need to concentrate more on my writing. Am sooo missing my parents dreadfully, so I need to finish this fast, pronto, rapido.... I can do it!!! I keep chanting this in my heart,"must submit in October, must submit in October, must submit in October". Friends please pray for me ya. Tawakkaltuwallah....

OK, I can't spend a lot of time here, so here a brief. Yaya is at school today, so that leave me with adik at home. Adik as usual la, when nobody else at home except me, she will spend the day watching TV, her fav movie selection or doodling on a piece of paper. Dah lame tak citer pasal adik new words kan. Her recently added to the dictionary is, "Kukumi" haaaa....macam burung cuckoo pulak ye.... What she is trying to say is "excuse me". hahahhahah... nak minta lalu, "kukumi", nak minta attention den jap, "kukumi mama".

So for yesterday iftar, because it was Sunday, so terlebih rajin sikit, I cooked bryani rice, beef kurma and acar darat (Mak' recipe).  Kuih?..hmmm still have leftover donut from a day before yesterday's iftar and cucur udang from the iftar with neighbour makan-makan, so heat them up laa...

Nasi briyani set (Atang's plate)

While Atang had nasi briyani, yaya, adik and me had soto ayam from our neighbour. Thank you neighbour :D.

Soto from neighbour

Weekend masing-masing rajin ke dapur masak macam-macamkan. Weekday, sorry la hehehhe... buka terus makan nasi campur yo, takde kuih-kuih nie :D. If I am lucky, we will have leftover...ahahah punye la malas. Like today, we still have beef kurma from yesterday's iftar, so I think I will cook sambal ikan bilis as add on.

Oh yes...before I forget, the Bazaar Ramadhan organise by the Malay Student Association of Queensland (Persatuan Pelajar Melayu Queensland, PPMQ) has already started since last Saturday. Same like previous years, the Bazaar opens on Saturday and Sunday, from 3 to 5pm, but the location will be announce each week. Last weekend, the Bazaar operated at Guyatt Park. Hope they will still continue at the park, I think it is most convenience for everybody.  Tak sempat lagi nak pergi, actually, we don't know what to buy yet. Tengok la one day I will go down and take some pictures. OK laaa... till we meet again. Selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

p.s. Welcome to new readers and followers to my humble blog. Thank you for reading bebelan ntahapahapantah of mine nih...hehhehe.. For those who want to link or add my blog to your blog roll, please inform me ya, so that I can add you too. Thanks again, happy reading.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 4: Mission accomplished

Today is the 4th day of Ramadhan. Our tamar mission yesterday was accomplished successfully. Alhamdullillah. And if not of the tamar mission, maybe we will never visit the butcher, this one located at Moorooka, one of the suburbs in Brisbane. The price is not much different from the regular butcher we go to. I was delighted with the size of a whole chicken they offer at this butcher. But the service was slow, I waited longer for my turn. I don't like waiting, so I wonder around the shop while waiting for our turn. Luckily they not just selling meat, there are many dry product such as lentils, rice, some biscuits, cordial, and most of the products are imported.

Halal butcher at Moorooka

As promise, here is the picture of the tamar.

The tamar

For iftar yesterday, I made a batch of donut, half I pre-fry and kept in the freezer, another half I fried for iftar. Atang bought Nando's, birthday boy belanja. I was more happier, I didn't have to cook for dinner and sahur.

Iftar day 3 (Big donut, small donut and neighbour's yummy popia)

I called mak last night, before iftar time Malaysia, arghhh sedih la bila dengar Mak n Abah buka puasa berdua aje. Wish that we are there (memang rasa terkilan betul la semalam), and they said the same thing too, adeh, sebak betul. Alhamdullillah, thank you Allah, they are able to perform the fasting. Abah puasa, but he had to skip the first day because of the CT scan. On Monday he will starts the radio therapy, dah tentu tak boleh puasa. Coincidentally my neighbour's dad is sufferring from cancer too, and will undergo radio therapy somewhere next week. Dah macam apa dah sekarang, sana sini dengar kes-kes cancer nie kan. My mother-in-law has completed her second chemo, and on medication, hopefully tak de lagi laaa. She went through two times, because of two different cancer. In June, my uncle passed away because of cancer. Atang's aunty is now on death bed because of throat cancer. Now I have both sides of the family who inherit cancer. Orang kata kemungkinan anak-anak untuk mendapat kanser tinggi. Hmmmm... wallahulam. Semua ketentuan Allah.

And yesterday, my facebook public wall was inundated with news, video recording, pictures of a tragedy that occured at pasar ramadhan at Jasin, Melaka. Al-fatihah to those who passed away (from the news, two people died). I had goosebumps watching the videos. Macam kena angin dari blower aje...... SubhanAllah.

Ok. Till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan Day 3: The tamar mission

Alhamdullillah, today is the 3rd day of Ramadhan. Today we have a mission, to find tamar, the kind that arabs usually eat with milk when breaking fast. This tamar is very special, because the tamar was soaked in the tamar juice and then pressed. Last year an arab post-grad student sadakah this tamar to muslims student at my office. That's how I came to know about this tamar. I was told by a colleague that you can find this tamar at some butchers around Brisbane, so we are heading there soon. I will post a picture of the tamar in the next entry.

It was so nice yesterday, having iftar with friends. The kids especially were happy. The adults were happy too, with the eating and catching up with each other.

Iftar Day 2

Iftar Day 2

I am off from cooking today. Someone is craving for Nando's today. Layan aje laa... it his special day today...hehehhe... oohhh but I want to make donut today, a request from the birthday boy. Ok then, till we meet again, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan day 2: Day 1 success for Yaya

Today is the second day of Ramadhan. Alhamdullillah we managed to complete the first day easily, especially yaya. She even helped me in the kitchen, beating eggs for telur dadar and coating the donut with the sugar. She was energetic through out the day, including teasing adik a little too much. Adeh, I tell you they can really get on my nerve sometimes. But I must admit, without them around life won't be meaningful.

Kids spent their 1st day of Ramadhan playing PS

Anyway, back to the Ramadhan story. It was chilly yesterday, the wind was strong and we could hear the wind howling outside. I think that was one reason why we didn't feel like we were fasting. Plus the day is shorter. Lucky for us, so far we experienced fasting during winter and spring. That is the positive part of it, the layback is, we have to get up early, around 4am for sahur if atang is not working. On atang's working day, we have to wake up at 3am for sahur. Just imagine on that wee hour we are eating rice. Hahahahah... well that is the consequence we have to take. Things always run in both ways. If you look around, you will see everything is two-side; up and down, front and back, left and right, etc. Can you tell me anything that is not? Ok..now I am drifting away from the topic.

Today Yaya is at school,hope she will manage another day of fasting. For iftar today, we are having potluck with our closest neighbours, just three families get together for iftar. Meriah sikit, especially for the kids. Each family will prepare some dishes. So I am cooking ayam sambal with bubur jagung today. Yummy.

For yesterday's iftar, I fried some karipap and donut, and cooked ayam padprik (yang tak jadi sangat, boleh dimaafkan sebab puasa..hahahhah) and telur dadar. Alhamdullillah, we also had some cupcakes given by our neighbour. It was her daughter's birthday yesterday. Kat sini kena la buat sendiri cuppies, kalau kat Malaysia boleh main tunjuk-tunjuk aje...heheheheh... but I wonder if I will buy or make the cuppies when I am back in Malaysia? You can save a lot if you make your own batch, tapi yela, time will be the issue then (eh macam la kat sini banyak masa...hahahaha). Pardon my crooked donut, tangan keras, huduh ada, tapi untuk sendiri makan maaa hehhehe...

Kuih for iftar day 1

Although masjid around Brisbane hold iftar and tarawih, but I perform tarawih at home. Ada budak tecit, so solat kat umah aje la. Kalau gi masjid, nanti ganggu jemaah pulak dan solat den tak kusyuk pulak nanti. OK, till next entry, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

Ramadhan day 1: Chilling wind but fair

It is windy now in Brisbane. I am practically shivering while typing this. But the sun is bright. What a wonderful day to start fasting today. Soon the winter will leave and the blooming season will come and visit us, for the last time.

Today is our first day of Ramadhan. Alhamdullillah, almost half of the day has pass by. Yaya is doing OK. I woke her up for sahur at 4.30am. Fasting started at 5.00 (5 minutes before Fajr). Alhamdullillah she didn't give any trouble waking up and having sahur. We had rice. Dah biasa makan nasi for sahur. We don't mind breaking fast with anything else, but for sahur, we must have nasi, otherwise by half of the day, perut pun mula berbunyi. Hopefully Yaya able to fast the whole day today. Luckily she has no school today. The school is close because of Ekka, kinda agricultural and industrial exhibition held annually in Brisbane. Macam ekspo pertanian kat Malaysia tu. But tomorrow the school opens, I wonder how she will be tomorrow.

OK, nie citer pasal adik pulak. Adik nie kan susah nak cerai puting, tapi semenjak dua menjak nie, dia terlupa sikit akan best bud dia. Wah...ini petanda baik. Tapi semua nie berlaku ada sebabnya tau..... Tengok exhibit 1 dan 2 di bawah.

Puting yang rompong

Puting rompong dari pandang sudut lain

Iyeeee, itu la sebab utama adik mula reject puting nie...yang telah rompong tu. Macam kena gigit tikus. Itu pun dia masih nak hisap jugak. Nak beli baru, tak nak den, kang ntah bila dia nak let go. Gigi pun dah mula terjungkit ke depan. Kite tengok sampai bila adik nak hisap puting dia nie, sama ada adik yang reject dulu, atau puting tu memang dah tak boleh di selamatkan lagi.

OK for those who are wondering about abah (eh ada ke?) hehhehe... mmmm... starting Monday abah will undergo radiation therapy for 10 days, 2 days break in between. From the recent CT scan, the cancer has spread to the spleen and liver. It is about time for abah to start chemo, but most probably after raya. Sedih la jugak, tapi ini semua ketentuan Allah. Den pasrah. I only hope I have the chance to look after abah, hope nothing bad will happen with us still here. OK...tak nak fikir negative. Kita bertawakkal pada Allah.

So what to cook for iftar ya. I already took out chicken breast from the freezer, maybe chicken padprik and telur dadar. And will fry some of the frozen karipap I made last weekend.

Karipap frozen (tapi sebelum di frozen kan)

Ok, I still have 2 hours left to work on the chapter, until the iftar preparation. Breaking-fast time today is at 5.25pm. Until tomorrow, selamat berbuka, biar sederhana.

yours truly,

 

Ramadhan al mubarak: Ku sambut dengan penuh kegembiraan

Ramadan

Alhamdullillah, Thank you Allah for giving me another chance to perform fasting in the holy month of Ramadhan this year.

Selamat menyambut Ramadhan al-mubarak kengkawan. Semoga ibadah puasa kali ini diisi dengan pengertian yang bermakna, dan semoga diberi kesihatan yang baik agar dapat menyempurnakan yang wajib serta yang sunat. Rebutlah peluang memperolehi ganjaran yang besar di bulan yang mulia ini.

Dan yang pastinya ini adalah Ramadhan terakhir kami di bumi asing ini. Harap Ramadhan kali ini meninggalkan kenangan yang manis agar satu hari nanti dapatlah kami bercerita pada cucu .... eh tetiba.....

Anyway, here in Queensland the first day of Ramadhan is tomorrow, yup, one day later than Malaysia. Kite ikut mufti sini la. Not only Queensland, Kak LG dekat Perth pun puasa besok jugak. Lain-lain state tak tau pulak den. Tapi memang biasa Queensland macam tu, puasa lewat sehari, tapi raya sama aje ngan Malaysia. hehehhehe...tapi tahun nie tak tau lagi.

hmmm..tahun nie kena pujuk yaya puasa cukup sebulan. tahun lepas yaya dapat puasa sebulan, well, according to her she did, but according to mak n bibik, they saw yaya went to the pantry for some cookies during the day. ahahahahhaha... but takpe laaa...baru belajar. At least after I talked to her about the cookies thing, of coz she denied it, and I took her words, lepas haritu nampak dia betul2 puasa, sebab lembik sikit. ahahahhahha... hopefully this year she will manage to complete the whole Ramadhan month.

Sebelum tu nak kena ajar yaya niat puasa dan berbuka, mesti dia lupe dah tu:

Niat Puasa:



Niat berbuka puasa:


Terima kasih Upin Ipin

(den cilok dari IQWA)

OK laaa... since this is our last Ramadhan here, I will try and write one post a day about the fasting and iftar. Hmmm petang nie kena masak lebih sikit la untuk bersahur. Sahur mesti nak nasik jugak.

Ramadhan has lift my spirit, Alhamdullillah. Hopefully dapat melaksanakan tugas dengan baik juga bulan nih. Amin.


yours truly,
 

"I saw it": A comic about Hiroshima bombing

Academic writing has now became the main part of my life. I need to have the draft ready by the end of this month for clarity passing and proof reading. Hope nothing will interfere with my writing, nothing that will cause changes to the results and no more major operation, aiyah... eh...amin....

So, why am I here, I should give full concentration on the writing. isssshhhhh....Well, actually I really have a story to write here, at least for my record. I was searching for the meaning of a word at answers.com, when I saw the main page of that website highlighting about the nuclear bombing at Nagasaki and Hiroshima in WWII. Yesterday was the 65 anniversary of the bombing. Each town was destroyed by a nuclear bomb, named "FatMan" and "Little Boy". When I read the highlight on answers.com, quickly flashed in my mind a comic that I once read when I was small about the survivors of that catastrophe. I then immediately goggle for that comic, using any logical keyword that I could think of. I succesfully found what I was searching for using "a comic about hiroshima bombing" and skimmed through to find the exact comic that I had. Hmmm wonder if the comic is still around at Mak's house? Will try and look for it once I am back in Malaysia. It's worth a keeper.

Now where was I...Oh yes...about the comic. Almost every day abah brought home something for me to read, anything from a magazine to a newsletter from his office. And one day he brought this comic home. What attracted me to the comic at first is..of cause the fact that it is a comic. Secondly, the artwork, that includes the colors and the illustrations. Thirdly, the story. And fourthly, the comic was translated to our local language, Bahasa Malaysia. I can't really recall what was the title in BM, I might be wrong here, but I think it was "Dari mataku"...but I am positively sure it was not the direct translation of "I saw it". From "I saw it" I knew about the bombing, the suffering of the people at these two towns. The drawing in the comic were so dramatic, as if you can feel the pain, for example the scalding and maximum burning of the victims skin, like a melted candle, distortion of some victims faces. I may be exagerating a little, but I had actually smell burning skins when I read the comic. This is because I had experience on scalding my lower leg to a motorcycle exhaust before, thus I knew how burnt skin smell like. Yup, a good story really made me going and over imagining a little.

OK here is a short intro about the comic.

I saw it by Keiji Nakazawa

"This single-issue comic book was the precursor to Keiji Nakazawa's longer masterwork, Barefoot Gen. A survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, Nakazawa wrote and drew this comic book in 1972 about his own life and experience in Hiroshima before, during, and after the atomic bombing. In it, he rages not only against the bomb, but also at the militarists who led Japan into war. His editor encouraged him to create a longer work based on this comic, and Nakazawa began work on Barefoot Gen. An intensely personal, child's-eye view of the horrors of the atomic bomb, and of war in general."

(source:http://www.lastgasp.com/d/24170/)

I definitely will ransack my room at Mak's house once I get home to find this comic. Hopefully it is still somewhere in the house.

yours truly,

Frozen karipap

Am now making a batch of karipap to be frozen, getting ready for ramadhan. Sib baik ada acuan karipap.

10-minutes post: Oh no, it's Friday again!!

Kejap je dah Jumaat!! Tak lame lagi nak puasa, hmmm hmmm... actually I have many things to say here, but the words aren't coming out right, the words are like floating in my brain... Damn!! I guessed because I have set my mind to focus on the academic writing, I am stuck, I can't express myself very well. It's like you are experiencing stage fright, you know you have a lot to talk about, but you can't, somehow you feel like your tongue is tight. See, I just wrote a few lines, but the 10-minutes are almost up...aiyah!!!

OK... will try write better after this. Rumah nie dah macam gloomy je, of late too many sad stories.

Got to rush, going to the butcher. Since Ramadhan is around the corner, so this weekend I have a cooking project, buat karipap banyak2, and store in the freezer. yeah!!

Happy weekends all.



yours truly,

Melancholy Mode

I am not well for a few days, got the flu and was feeling quite sick yesterday. Alhamdullillah, after a long rest last night, I feel a little bit better. But something is unsettle in my mind. Feel worry and sad.

I called Mak yesterday, just before I went to bed. Mak just came back from hospital, Abah was admitted....again. Last month he was admitted at HKL for almost five days. Yesterday, Mak has to send Abah again, but to a private hospital in Senawang. Mak can no longer drive long distance nowadays. Abah's foot is swollen and he was in pain. Mak said Abah vomitted everytime he ate, and he can only eat porridge. The last time he was admitted, is because the same thing, foot swollen and painful, and his blood count was decreasing.

I knew mak explained a lot on the phone, but my mind slipped away, couldn't really focus. I wish I could pack everything and go home for good. But that is not a good decision to make. I have to finish all this, must, and praying hard that I can finish all this as fast as I can. Sikit aje lagi, just 2 more months to go. Sikit aje lagi....

Ya Allah, please...speedy recovery for abah, and may I can finish all this on time. I just want to go home.

yours truly,