Queen of Everything

this reunion was indeed an eye opener.

being the daughter of a mcoba boy (leman house ‘65), i dont see the big deal of being the wife of another mcoba boy (fondly known as KAY among his batchmates who incidently is ALSO a budak leman like my abah). no biggie. been there, done that. while my husband basks in the glory of being a koleq boy, i would yawn in response. it’s good that he thinks proudly of his alma mater, but not all chicks think being with a mcoba boy is *happening*.

but being among the boys from mckk9296 batch that weekend in cherating did change my perception. it was like being among brothers who hasnt seen each other in years. the wives were like sisters catching up on the latest bits. there was warmth in the air.

lemme just say that by the end of the reunion, although i still dont seen real pride in being a mcoba boy’s wife; i DO see pride in these boys making effort to keep the koleq spirit alive. i was thinking to myself; had i try to do the same thing that these boys have, i wouldnt have been able to even assemble my classmates! let alone batchmates!

itu pun, berapa kerat sangat la will turn-up? and for only that ONE measly reunion? these boys are planning a 20th anniversary reunion already! and lots and lots of other plans are in store. buka puasa reunion, sports meet, siap ade committee complete with a chairman!

man, they’ve got it goin on!

i would request the organizing team to please stand up and give themselves a pat on the back for a job well done! 5 stars and a billion more to adiq for leading an impressive line-up for this cherating reunion.

want me to walk you guys through it?

the setting; suria beach resort was comfy & nice - just a cozy spot to bring khaleef along. hotel room was spacious and the wooden interior added to the charm.

the food; what can i say? excelente’? with *lobster* as one of the many dish, who could say otherwise? though ironically i DONT eat lobster. i’m saying this on behalf of my husband who ate a LOT! hihihihi…i particularly enjoyed the choc cake…yum!

the fun-in-the-sun activity; gelak, ketawa & riang ria. there are no other words to put it. we had pure, silly fun! i joined the ‘couple event’ where me & hubby main kaki tiga sambil bawak belon celah kaki…lawak! and baling telur! i enjoyed it every bit!

did i tell you about the souvenirs? naah…no stupid mugs or keychain kayu yg boleh beli kat central market or port dickson siap ade nama kita tulis ngan ink itam tu…na-ah…these power-packed bunch were more deserving of a hard, classy metal keychain; a sleek black card holder; a special edition 100-only car sticker & a booklet - all adorned with the specially designed koleq logo exclusively for batch 9296.

if you think "la..tu je?" i’m not done - you’ve seen the picts. you saw what they wore. yup, part of the souvenirs. for these guys, tak main la tshirt yg kat blakang ade suma nama2 batchmates, yg siap ade kartun ‘aku budak blues’ tu…

they were given TWO attires to wear during the reunion. one, a lepak black T with simply the words ‘ninety two ninety six’ plus the koleq logo written across the T. wonder who designed it. nice. another one, a white pemuda-umno-like short-sleeved shirt with orange sleeve; and a koleq logo on the right hand corner adorned with the words ‘CLASS OF ‘96 Malay College Kuala Kangsar’.

wicked.

the highlight of the reunion, to me, would be the slide show. there were classic shots of the 9296 bros that illustrated their colorful life in mckk. the presentation was divided into 5 segments; from 1992 to 1996 where they became ‘kings’; and these segments were made more touching & fun to watch with background songs. never imagine ella’s ‘layar impian’ would sound so perfect! each shots were accompanied by witty captions. there were really funny ones; from the guy who has lost some of his hair; to the guy who gained some pounds in his midsection! i applaud the guy who made that slide show for i can only imagine the time, effort and passion he put in to come up with such a moving and endearing piece. excellent work, modaq!

i wont be surprised if there were a few tears shed during the presentation; coz that was what the cd left me; feeling all warm and fuzzy…oh yeah, the boys were given the CD to this presentation; another cool souvenir to keep for another 10 years to come, before the next reunion.

excellent show, boys. excellent. keep the spirit alive!

http://syigim.fotopages.com/?entry=792004&back=http://syigim.fotopages.com/?page=3

For my Khaleef, on his birthday…

Kau tersenyum

Ku terpaku

Jejari halusmu menggenggam rambutku

Sinaran matamu menusuk di kalbu

Tak mungkin ku melupakan sebegini pengalaman

Lalu hati pun berkata

Segala untukmu

Bila besar nanti

Dia tersendiri

Benar pada janji jangan lupakan Ilahi

Akan tiba bahagia

Tak mungkin sendirian

Belum pun sempat rindu bapak pulang

Dibuai dalam mimpi

Kau ku sayang…

Love always,

Mak

been awhile since i updated my blog. i’ll just make this short n simple:

(1) in february, mr khairul & i will be welcoming our baby bubbles! yep. 3 months pregnant & it has been wonderful! torturous at times; but wonderful! hihi. you guys can start buying presents now. i prefer something that are neither blue nor pink - no cliches for baby bubbles! (byk pulak songeh)

(2) how ugly office politics can be. friend or foe? but i discovered the hard way how you alone should fight your own battle. and most people are not what they seem. dont talk the talk if you cant walk the walk. how can people go through life being as hypocrite as that? ok, lemme rephrase that - why hasnt anyone blast them with a stun gun already?

(3) i’m officially allergic to the smell of fried prawns and men’s cologne. except for my hubby’s. hihi. so men stay away! the cologne thing…maybe my husband’s prayers answered. prawns? well, i hated them anyways, pregnant or not…

(4) urm…i’ll add more later…

yesterday my husband was handling the logistics of an exhibition featuring ferraris and the likes at klcc. coolness. after work i parked my car at kelana jaya lrt station and scooted off to klcc.

hubby: ok, nak makan ape?
me: [i can only see mcd!]
hubby: what do u wanna eat?

and we walked pass all the stalls. while still undecided.

hubby: i nak laksa lah.
me: laksa… [while imagining in the taste of laksa in my mouth. nice.]

my husband went straight to the laksa stall, leaving me trailing behind, still overwhelmed by the choice of food available at klcc foodcourt.

i found char kuey teow. my all time fav. tapi kenapa macam tak rasa nak makan? but kuey teow is kuey teow. i’m sure it’s gonna be good.

me: honey, i makan kuey teow.

my husband nodded, obviously more absorbed in deciding what type of laksa he wished to eat today.

few minutes later, there were we - side by side - me and my plate of kuey teow and my husband with his huge bowl of laksa. i poked at a string of kuey teow. i was making weird faces. meanwhile, my husband was thoroughly enjoying his laksa.

[hmm. looks yummy.]

no, syigim. the grass is greener on the other side! eat your kuey teow. but i couldnt. one bite and the verdict came - tak sedap!

hubby: ok kuey teow?
me: [geleng kepala while buat muka kesian sambil kuis2 kuey teow dengan chopsticks]
hubby: [surprised] nape tak sedap ke?
me: [geleng lagi. buat muka budak2 takmo makan sayur lagi]
hubby: first time i heard you saying kuey teow tak sedap. [picked some with his chopsticks. tasted some] ok. tak suka bagi i. you take my laksa.

and before i could protest he completed the transaction. in seconds i was facing a hot steaming bowl of yummy laksa, while he gobbled up my kuey teow. i looked at him without any guilt whatsoever. hihi. just felt like hugging him.

i had just about 5 spoonfull of laksa before kenyang already and passed the bowl back to him. hey, it was a huge bowl i tell ya! by that time he had already devoured all my kuey teow.

i love him so much. it is these little things that made him so yummy!

woah!

back to civilization at last! the internet connection at my office went weng for the past few days which explains the absence of my written bickerings…

ok. latest news.

urm.

wait. there must be something.

er there was that…

..and erm…also…

wait…i’m sure i can come up with one interesting story…

not much a life, have i?

maaf

sakit perut!

today, syazrin syigim sharifuddin turns 26.

26!

all hail syigim and happy berry berry birthday to me! yay me!

i am 26 today, and i have the lasting memory of my dearest mak, i have a wonderful abah who works hard to give the best to his daughters, i have great fun sisters yong, syimot, syidot and azot, i have great friends, great job, had a great wedding party and i’ve got the love of a most  passionate, loving man.

i couldnt ask for more!

well, except for a few stuff like lifetime membership McDonalds with free axcess to any McD outlets in the world, a yellow beetle and anuar zain to sing me happy birthday. like i said, i couldnt ask for more than that. hihi.

today was great. of course my husband was the first to wish me happy birthday. i love him. then my sisters. i wuv u guys! and then my students, friends and aunts sent well-wishes sms. thanks all! at work, i didnt expect it, but a pizza delivery guy suddenly appear out of nowhere handing out 2 boxes of hot steamin pizzas!

thanks all! bob, faizal, gopal, halimah, mr kabur, mr koh, ramesh, suba, suzi for your bday wishes and of course erdha for organizing the cute little bday bash! and thanks to ramesh for takin us gurls out for a light snack at secret recipe afterwards.

man, i’m beat. and it’s only halfway through.

after work i’m heading to One Utama to meet my hubby. we’re going for a nice bday dinner. tak payah steaks dinner + candle light, honey cookie. you know what i like.

McD la! korang ingat ape tu?

thanks again to all, and may your bdays be as bright and jolly as mine today!

* addendum: went to tgif! click here for photos!

i forgot to tell you this interesting scene i came across one fine day.

i was at a video arcade, with my husband. i dont play arcade games - heck, i suck! so i was just there to wave pom-poms and say ‘go honey!’.  after awhile he insisted we look for something easy pizzy; kids stuff we could play together. at one corner there was this line of computers with touch-on screens.

i saw that most of them had word-games! and few others had puzzle games. look at that! i never knew places like this had games that doesnt involve violence, racing and gun-shooting. ok, maybe just the machine where you try your luck in picking up toys using hooks which you control.

anyway, we picked a monitor, pulled two chairs together and played ’spot the difference’. it was fun, really. a game of detecting 10 differences between 2 photographs within a time-limit. sounds simple but when you get to those really complicated pictures with lotsa details, we were stumped as we raced to spot! while we’re laughing and enjoying the game, i cant help but notice the noise from the next pc.

now remember that these computers had WORD games; while people who frequent video arcades are mostly boys aged 12-17, perhaps younger, these places are dominated by this group. they play fast-paced race car games, waste-the-bad-guy gun-shooting and street fighting.

imagine my surprise when the noise from the next pc were coming from a bunch of 15-16 year old boys playing crossword puzzle! and these are typical tanned malay boys who looked like those found loitering around pertama complex. believe me, i’m not judgemental, and far from stereotyping - but i cant help my first impression on the boys. they are not your typical top students, prefects or club presidents - they are the ones you might catch playing truant, riding a bike without license or havin a smoke behind the school canteen.

but what i was looking at spurs my heart to the moon! 2 of the boys were on the stools facing the monitor, pointing at the screen trying to figure out the answers to the word puzzle; while 4-5 others were looking over behind them, joining in to help find the words. and a few other boys were sitting on the stools at the next pc, observing in silent interest, obviously intrigued as well.

as i was an english teacher once, i felt an unexplainable sense of pride; and at that very second felt like there is a glimmer of hope in educating students who seemed to be uninterested. these boys - whom i *deemed* not worthy enough to be club presidents and prefects; who cut class and ride bikes illegally - were playing word games instead of the rest of the leave-your-brain-at-home arcade games available.

it was fascinating watching them. highly exuberant bunch who screamed out answers the minute they were able to figure it out. i was thinking to myself - what a great way to get kids to enjoy english, and have fun too. plus, make them think learning english is cool!

i figured these boys, the ones i saw at the arcade, have just discovered the word games - or have noticed these seemingly boring word games but would never have thought that these games are fun! and once two started playing, others came wondering what was the fuss about and joined in. soon more and more grouped around them and soon enough, all of these boys were hooked.

it was wonderful. the boys bonded in a healthy activity (as oppose to mengorat awek tudung in pertama komplek‘, watching porn or smoking pot), at the same time widened their vocabulary and learned new english words. i wish i could meet the boys again and do an exclusive interview…

now if only we can create a special after-school center in each school for those who stayed back for club meetings and sports practice to place computers with touch-on screens offering nothing but word games and puzzle…maybe it could even be a slot in the english syllabus?

maybe when i am prime minister.

my sister syima got engaged yesterday.

all of us wore green katak pisang. fresh. that is the one word that came to mind as streams of people arriving in mean green. i was probably tired of seeing purple everywhere…

i look like a real katak pisang with my mak’s baju kurung ijau polos complete with an exact matching katak pisang tudung. my husband wore the same shade of katak pisang. and if it werent for the mckk sampin which has red as the dominating color, we would be two katak pisang in love; happily walking hither and tither.

my sisters looked grrrreat! syida wore her long-awaited kebaya nyonya with black top + green embroidery and green brown batik sarung. azot looked demure in plain green mean baju kurung with chequered bottom. what am i sayin?? demure! huh! err anyway, yong was hot as usual in a tight-fitting green kebaya. niiiiice. my adorably naughty nephews haiqal and haqeem were so freakin cute in their identical flourescent green new zealand kiwi t’s with similar denim pants. cute cute cute!

the bride to be wore green - duuh - with brown green lace. din my future bro in law wore matching green, not so much katak pisang. but maybe katak kebun.

my cousins, aunts and uncles! all in green! and even abah! hihi. the ceremony went well. and ended way too soon for me. after the sarung cincin, we held a tahlil for mak and then off to makan. while the guests ate, us family members took turns to take photos with the newly-weds-to-be.

the wedding is set to take place early january, God willing.

congrats sis, here’s to another happy union!

click for more pictures!

yeap.

i play golf.

that is, if you agree to my definition of ‘playing golf’. to me, it is standing on what looks like the rubber mat under your feet when you drive, positioning yourself to a considerable stance, stuck out your butt while placing a golf club neatly on a fake grass box approximately few microinches from a golf ball. look straight at the ball, flex your arms, then start hitting the damn ball. and watch where it goes.
yeah.

i play kat driving range je…

i used to hate golf. it is THE most boring game ever! you hit you walk you hit you walk. but playing it (again, refer to SYIGIM’s definition of ‘playing golf’) is something else altogether. try it.

during my first few trys i ended up hitting the ball to just few meters away and it went skewing flat instead of looping up. but lemme tell you, that feeling, that wonderful feeling of total satisfaction is  yours when you see the ball finally go up, up and away…

an additional sound when you hit the ball is a bonus.

no thanks to my husband who is a golf nut, our after-work activities involved either raiding my aunts’ places for home-cooked dinner, swimming, watching movies at tgv, apple-shopping at giant, accompany him to his aikido class, and now golf.

please dont let him make me take aikido…