The Original Juice

Part One

One day, on the way home with Ayah in the car, Ayah asked me, "Have u considered the teaching career?"


I said i have. i LOVE the perks of teaching. ie SCH Hols, BIG bucks and all... But surely the benefits are nothing compared to private MNC companies, and that with only an A levels and Diploma i can only teach primary sch. And i CAN'T stand teaching young children who have short attention spans! I prefer to teach adults and young adults bcos they have better sense of right n wrong and proper manners, or at least the ones i've taught so far. But mostly, i deliver and then leave it up to them to make the decision to take studying seriously or not. That's my way, unfortunately.


Ayah said then, "Ya lah.. kan start from pri sch. Then you can always get that degree while u teach like what Kak Ly and Cik Ita did and is doing. It will even be covered by the govt."


and i thought, Oh God i can't stand working and studying what more teaching and studying? Cos i know the workload of teaching is like HELL. Just looking at my sister, i get stressed also. BUT if let's say they allow me to study FULL time then i might just consider it.


You know i love mathematics and would wanna teach it in Sec sch. But i think im such a long winded person that im afraid the students wldn't get it. And besides my spontaneous verbal English is NOT on par with the other General subjects teachers.


I also recall there was this time i taught my cousin, Nur with her maths question. I think i was in Sec 4 or Pre - uni 1 and she's 2 yrs younger. I got the answer right but she came back to me and said that her teacher told her that the steps were wrong. Right then, i lost ALL hopes of ever teaching Maths.


Part Two

Remember that time i was browsing for a Writing position of some kind?


Then there were 2 opportunities for me to do a review of something i actually like. Namely the Singapore Recruits and the payperpost websites. I have even drafted the points i wanted to say. But have never got around to do it yet!


So i wonder whether i could actually keep up with the pressure of TIGHT deadlines, editors and writers are subject to.

And i also wonder if i would get sick of seeing words and thinking of ways to put them nicely into sentences. Bcos i remember when i was doing A levels, I got kinda word-phobic after having to write a continuous 3hrs x 4 papers x 2 exams a year x (2 yrs + 1 actualy A levels) = 72 hours of continuous writing!!! *faint*


When i left sch, i was adamant to pursue Maths cos i was sooo tired of WORDS! LOL


Part Three

Then a few days later, Ayah gave me a print out of 2 available positions in the ministry he's working for.


I didnt give it much thought, actually. (Sorry, yah) Becos firstly, Its December and everybody's staying for bonus. Secondly, its quite a junior position i doubt the govt pays as much as im getting right now. True, civil servants get GREAT bonus packages. Perhaps true that its easier to climb up the corporate ladder within the govt agencies. And they get a LOT of discounts everywhere. But.... Lekin.... Tapi... Laakin....


Part Four

The moment i had the intention of leaving my previous employment at MKA, i know i wanted to be an Actuary. They mainly analyse the numbers (claims, premium collections) to come up with the appropriate insurance premium to charge customers and things like that.


I dont have the right qualifications just yet. But i managed to penetrate into the current workplace and i tot i'd start from low while get the degree and get that dream job.


Having quit(ted?) the degree prog, i feel that that inspirations is too far from my grasp. I cld actually discuss with the CEO with regards to a continuing career within AXA, where we would identify goals and ways to achieve it.

The vacancy for an Executive or Exec Asst in the Actuarial Dept has been up for quite some time and for a few times in the past 2 yrs (almost) tt i've been here. Not sure whether its an additional position or replacement but it still mean i can get there somehow...

Part Five

On the other hand, after being married for nearly 11 months now, I feel a bit too old for the career ladder! LOL... I feel like doing my job day in day out just like that. Tired lah... But that's sooo uninspirational. EXACTLY, The typical stereo-typed Malays.


Sighhh... Dear Lord, please show me the way, give me strength and support. Please help me to prioritise. Please tell me clearly, some way, some how, that this or that is the path i should take and remove all doubts and regrets.


You are the All-Knower (for you know what's in my heart), The Listener (of my grievances even in silence), The Most Powerful (for You can do anything that You want), The Compassionate (for you understand the difficulties I'm going thru). With these, i trust that You will solve my problems, ALL of OUR problems. You will answer our prayers, for You are Al-Mujeeb (Answerer of Prayer?).

First of All... Hey this is my 301st post!

Secondly, let's review how much i've done from My To-Do While He's Gone List.


1. Finish reading The Difficult Journey, The Way Back by AHmad Thompson
Done

2. Finish Qur'an 1.5 time
2 pages thru. LOL

3. Finish 14 days of fasting
1 down

4. Rememorise Surah Mulk, Rahman, Yasin. *guilty of forgetting*
No action yet

5. Spring Clean the WHOLE room inside out
on Xmas, Finished clearing 2.5 out of 4 sections of my cabinet and drawers.

6. Watch 3 or 4 more DVDs
Have watched The Wild, The Barnyard, X-Men 3 and Chuck & Larry while he was away.

7. Read 4 novels (AFTER finishing those 2)
Started Book 3 which Ayah bought for me - The Unromantic Orient By Muhammad Asad.

8. Practise cooking. Maybe i'll try to make Peach Tart? heheh if not then Mee Bandung.

Did the cooking last fri with another one scheduled for New Year. Im thinking of Corned Beef Keema and Chapati. Recipes here http://quickneasytreats.blogspot.com/2005/11/corned-beef-kheema.html

That's the box there

Actually there's no real need for a flat screen bcos it would be placed in the designated TV area on the cabinet anyways. But well.. what the heck! Just get it lor!

I very seldom watch TV that even when i returned home last night and saw them watching it... it took me a full 5 mins to think, "Eh? The TV's ok already?" Only after seeing the box, then i realised, "OH! The new TV's here!" LOL

Well we have! heheheh


It's a new HALAL fast food joint so far only available at Changi Airport Terminal 1 Viewing Mall.

It's all about chicken and biscuit

Just to give u a feel of the "ambience"

Oh! THey have seafood too!. Anybody's mouth watering?

This is the Shrimp Basket with a generous helping or 15+pcs of Cajun shrimp! HEAVENLY! The fries are to die for! It's something like KFC's crispy fries.

And i know someone who is CRAZY about his new found love for shrimps!

To be honest, im quite surprised they're HALAL! and we havent heard of it till we passed by the Airport's cafeteria at Level 3.

You can visit their website at http://www.popeyes.com/

I looked through the list of countries that they're located and warmly surprised yet again that they have outlets in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and even Saudi! In Asia, they can also be found in Indonesia, Philippines and China. It's not even available in Msia! *GAPING*

Nice colours na?

Wanted to take the Adam Air in the background actually.

It's a Sunday.


Since i dont have anything better to do, i accompanied my parents to a great uncle's son's wedding. (I know! Very distant connection, right?!)


Yayan who slept over at our place after the late night JB shopping also followed us there.

The Green Girls.

That's the menu of the day. Mee Hoon goreng (Fried thin noodle) with Ayam Masak Merah and Pacri Nenas (Pineapple sauce). Mutton Rendang not in view.

The Bride and Groom has arrived!

Instead of Kompang (Malay drum), they were accompanied by the ramming noises of 4 scrambler bikes! But they still have a traditional "Kuda Kepang" Kuda = horse. Kepang i dont know... some kind of dance probably?

Most of the time, wedding receptions are held at the void deck of our flats. And the tables, ceilings and sometimes even walls are decorated with such cloths.

This is a view of the "open air" kitchen.

Those bags are take-away food for those close relatives or for pple who couldn't attend but sent their regards and with the money packet, they'll get one bag.

This video portrays another traditional segment of our wedding reception. SILAT. Silat is martial arts Malay version. When the bride and groom arrive, they are greeted with a relative showing off his Silat moves then salam (shake hands) the newly wedded couple.

Please bear with the video. It's not until the 30th second till i got a good view.

Though, i dont think im afraid of the dentist, i always had my mum accompany me to dental appointments. That is, save for the two times conducted at school.

Yesterday, i was a brave girl going on my own meeting the neighbourhood dentist i've never seen before!

See... my mum and the usual dentist Dr Seah are good friends and we always got discount cos my mum referred him to all her friends too and remind n encourage us to visit him often. But unfortunately, he's fully booked in Dec and i absolutely need to get it done by this week so as to be able to claim it for 2007. So only the female dentist is available.

To my surprise, i really liked her!

She welcomed me warmly as i walked into her "office". And said she will review the condition of my teeth first before deciding what to do bcos i told her i have $100 to spend.

She said that my teeth are very good esp the front ones and that there are no holes to be filled! Only the back of my lower front teeth have tartar in between.

It's been 2 years since my last appointment. Last yr was the first yr tt i can claim for dental w the change of employer. But even then, i cldnt go to see the dentist bcos i always find that at the end of the month, i dont have extra to spend on things like these. Prolly bcos i was concentrating more on saving.

I liked the way she explains to me what she is doing and that she is now moving on to the other section of the teeth and so on. She put me at ease and i wasn't scared at all despite being all alone. I still closed my eyes though avoiding to see any sharp equipments and imagining in poking at my teeth n gums! It still hurts a bit but manageable and i just gripped my hands to bear it.

Oh! She also reminded me to brush until the last teeth bcos its getting a bit brown but fortunately no holes yet! She also told me my gum is not so healthy bcos it bleeds so easily. So i hafta brush my gums also.

I asked her a lot of questions why this n that and how to maintain bla bla bla... I also took the opportunity to tell her that my husband thinks my teeth are yellow. She said, "No, it's perfectly normal." Seeing that i'm not convinced, she added, "It's the natural colour of your teeth. Just like some pple from brown eyes while others have blue. You have yellow teeth while others have white teeth. You CAN bleach them White, if you want, at SGD 1,500. It's like dyeing your hair..." Hmmm if its like dyeing hair, certainly it means the colour is temporary? I wondered aloud. and she said, "Yeah.. just like hair it will grow out after 3 - 6 months... the colour will return in 3 yrs time."

After i reported this to Zubair, he said, "Yeah i told you all my family said your teeth are very nice. and i have long since agreed with them too." Yeah yeah... :P

Total spent? SGD 95! Normal scaling and polishing is actually $60, but bcos there was some difficult scaling to remove stubborn tartar on my 4 backmost molars so that's $35 extra. Luckily i can claim up to $100 and its end of the year already so i dont begrudge them.

So they recommend me to come every 6 months to prevent build up of problems. And i resolve to keep to the appointment. With VISA, paying first claim later is of no problem already. Alhamdulillah.

Anyways, don't be afraid of the dentist! The more frequent you go, the less painful the treatment is.

We picked up Nur n Yayan at her work place cos she has to work saturdays.

Where are we going, Syifaa'?

We're going to Angsana at Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

We stopped for awhile at the first Toll Station.

Touch 'n' go is a tap card system to pay for using the North South Highway (PLUS). This is to prevent build up in the queue during peak hours from the physical monetary exchange at the drive thru booths.

Just to give you a view of what Johor's like.

Mostly, the roads are fronted by 2-3 storey shophouses.

First stop after we reached Angsana is LUNCH!!! It was 3+ by the time we "touched down" and we were certainly ravenous having not taken any bfast yet!

Me & Nur with our Vanilla and Banana Muffins. Can you guess where we are?

Ben's dish of 1/4 Chicken + pasta + 1 side dish priced at RM 17.90

Ayah had the same.

We fed Syifaa' w Muffins n mashed potato.

There were also a lot of children playing. Half of them Singaporeans i reckon by their dressing. At some point, Syifaa' was enjoying herself running around "entertaining" diners, adult and children alike, supervised by Ayah.

Total Bill: RM 106. That's like SGD10 per person!!! The service wasn't all that great, but that's only to be expected. Imagine, they served food first, cutleries later?!?! *shake head* Well, at least they were happy to give a bowl of it for free, otherwise, i will tell them off for charging for their services!

It was funny the way the waitress stood at our table while presenting the check, as tho she didnt wanna let go of it, for fear we might run! Excuse me, we need to do our accounting first. In the end, pressured by her presence, my mum just footed the bill first. and we settled it among ourselves later. Even then, the bill took prolly like 10 full minutes to be processed!! Like HUH?? Not like there were any crowd! *Shake head*

Anyway, were you able to guess the place? Haha.. It's Kenny Rogers lah.

After that was bowling!!!

According to mummy, that day saw a LOT of patrons. It is mostly vacant at other times.

It was SUPER DUPER CHEAP!!! Total for 5 person x 2 games each + 4 shoe rentals + 1 socks = RM 57 = SGD 2.50 per person per game! COmpare that to SGD 4.10 at Marina Square at peak hours. *roll eyes* But you just hafta put up with the slow service and old equipments lor..

As expected, Ayah played SUPER WELL! He almost got a turkey!!.

For the first game, he got strikes and spares for all save for 2 - 3 rounds! His score was about 130+? I got 2nd at 100+. I dont really remember cos we didnt get to snap a picture of the score! Get this. The screen is dot matrix old and cldnt even display all 10 rounds. We didn't even have our monitor to key in our names. Instead, there is a staff to input the names and watch the score for every 6 lanes or so. Gosh! I suppose, it's a good way to keep employment rate up?

Yayan improved a lot!! He's found his throw style already and got several strikes.

Nur got 1 or 2 strikes herself.

I only got 1 strike but a lot of spares.

Mummy used Ayah's "lucky" Orange Ball No 8 and strike too!!

But generally, we did much worse for 2nd game. Tired already. Even ayah~ You should see Ayah's throw. very unique! hehehe i will update this with videos later when i get home. So come back to check them out. BTW, Syifaa' slept thru out our bowling session! Alhamdulillah.

Ayah said earlier that if we had time, we will check out the Karaoke boxes. We got all enthusiastic at that prospect. But guess what? we didnt realised we spent like 2 hours in UO - a supermarket cum department store. It was almost 10pm when we were done shopping and stores were closing.

Though those boxes close at 2am, we were considering Syifaa' PLUS we still havent got dinner yet!

So Next Stop, Singgah Selalu.

Syifaa' & Nenek

Syifaa' & Aunty Nur

Syifaa' & Atuk!

Everybody just wants a piece of her!

Syifaa' got bored so Ayah accompanied her to the play room.

Before that, Ayah was sternly telling off the bigger children who was playing roughly. Throwing hard balls at the small babies!! How could they! Ayah said, "You can play, but throw softly." Luckily, they listened.

Ayah's dessert: ABC = Air Batu Campur = Mixed Ice / Shaved Ice.

Not to forget SATAYYYYYYYY

Our light dinner to compensate for the LATE meal and the heavy late lunch.

Me & Yayan at the decorative mirror.

There were a huge crowd as usual on weekends but esp so bcos the were showing the football match Arsenal VS somebody which i dont know and dont care. I was quite surprised to see quite a few Msians too cos i would have thought this is a Singaporean's haunt being just a few km off the Immigration Checkpoint.

Truthfully, i dont know why pple like to go to Singgah Selalu. Mostly pple say that they serve a wide variety of food. But when i browse thru the menu... nothing much really. Still the common Mee hailam, roti prata, fish & Chip and other vege, meat, seafood dishes to be eaten with rice. I suppose the latter's their specialty, which, i personally don't favour bcos u will end up spending more than necessary with even smaller portions or 3 - 4 dishes. Nope, not my kinda restaurant.

But take me to Al-Ameen, anytime! That's my kind! Thai, Indian, Pakistani, Mediterranean, Western... Oh i will always hafta break my heart when choosing 1 plate over 100 of them!

Guess what time we reached home? 1:30am!!!

All in all, it was a SUPER FUN day for me. Ayah warned me in advance tho that this is not a bday celebration. Just so happen that our outing coincides with my bday. No matter.


Syifaa' has been very good also! Not much crying but more laughing / smiling. She likes to roll on the floor in the most manja way, just like a cat!... even at UO's floor... Until she got a red dot on her face! I think my arms are sore more bcos i was carrying her than bcos of bowling! In the car, she clung to me most of the time while taking "shelter" or refuge when Uncle Ben and Aunty Nur threatens to tickle her! She even fell asleep in my arms... And it felt very nice :D


But i can also see that taking care of a baby or toddler is HARD WORK. Ayah had to eat quickly in order to look after Syifaa' and let Mummy take her turn to eat. When we were shopping, Ayah accompanied her the whole time! While I know Ayah likes to play w children and use it as a chance to relate to holy things, 2 hours is still NO JOKE. can't help feeling a bit guilty.


Lastly, thank you to my family for being there for me. And thanks to ALL my friends for remembering my Bday n wishing it. I've never truly appreciated them until now when i realised that it takes a lot of effort to REMEMBER somebody's bday and actually making the effort to TEXT well wishes.

It was Friday.


With a full 2-day weekend ahead, i felt very free and since mummy hasnt cooked dinner yet, so i volunteered! Menu of the night: Lontong Goreng (Fried Rice Cakes).

Firstly, dice them into small pieces, but not too small that it will get crushed when stirring.

Oh don't forget to thaw the minced meat, wash and strain them before putting it into the pot.

Fortunately, the chilli paste was prepared much earlier, so i just had to pour 2 tbs of the paste (no oil required), heat it with some water, then put in the minced chicken and stir a bit (but not too much) and leave it to cook. For chicken, the meat will become white when cooked. For beef/mutton, dull brown paste-like will turn to dark brown lumps.

We thought the gravy wasn't much, so we added tomato and chilli sauce. To make it look more colourful, you can add mixed vege or just some green vege or whatever. Then, make a well in the middle, crack the egg, wait for awhile till it turn a bit whitish then mix the egg & white and cover up with the rest of the "lontong". After some time, then stir and mix the fried egg well.

Note: U can still add chilli or soy sauce or the instant paste after u put the lontong in. But NOT for raw blended chilli as it will not cook properly. Hard carrots are added BEFORE lontong, together w the meat. Other veges, after meat's cooked but BEFORE lontong.

The dish was so simple that i stopped mummy from even pouring the chilli or minced meat in. Bcos if not, i would just be the stirrer, right?! haha

Or, in other words, Hari ini hari bodoh saya (lagi).


The day started with me scrambling frantically to draw up an eInvitation for a 7th Jan 08 event. And then skimming thru Mail Merge tutorial and clicking here n there.

Blunder No 1: I accidentally sent an unfinished invitation to the WRONG group of contacts!!

I started recalling all 70 odd of them one by one lah sak! How was i suppose to know that after i click "merge" it will AUTOMATICALLY send out ALL of the emails?? I thought, like a normal email, i would be able to press "send" before it actually got processed. Boy, I pray hard they will all be successfully recalled as it involves some big people in PARIS, and totally UNRELATED pple from all over the world including my cousin, NUR! LOL.

Then when i forwarded the draft to Pauline for approval/amendment, i forgot to attach the file!! GRRRR That's Blunder No 2. But it ain't over no no.


Blunder series No 3.
It was already 12:15pm and i scurried to go to the gym. I've reached the First floor lobby when i remembered that i hadn't taken my water bottle so i went back up again.

Shortly after my bottle is safe in my hand, mummy called me to ask if i m going to change money to Ringgit Msia. and then i remembered that im supposed to do some errands for Mike. So i went up again to grab the docs.

After gym, on the way to the bank, i realise that i havent written his account no on the reverse of his cheque!! So how to bank in, you tell me?!?!?!?

Ok i guess, the cheque just gotta wait till next day or whatever. So i still headed for Arcade to change money, then took the cab to Suntec Tower 2 to drop off Mike's letter. Dont look at me like that. He gave me money to take cab ley. Ok that one went on smoothly.

Then i treated myself to a $2.50 cinnamon sugar pretzel from Auntie Anne's. I had to wait 5 mins for her to bake a fresh one. I was hanging around another stall and came back just in time to receive my lovely yummy pretzel. I politely refused the offer of a bag cos i wanted to eat it on the go. Then.... BLUNDER No 4!!!! The pretzel just slipped out of the L-shaped paper wrapper and slid on the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!! $%^%&%$^#$%@#$#!%$#^#&6


I quickly picked it up and showed to "Auntie" and whined, "Aunty!! Drop already!!" The slow aunty just gaped and didnt even offer to give me a new one!!! If it was McDonalds, they would!

Devastated, i just blew on it while walking away... then started eating happily as per normal after i got out of sight from the pple who saw the spectacle. i consoled myself that the fallen sugar is good for me... so it wont be too sweet.

OMG, im such a selenger (duffer).

Thank god, so far, there hasnt been any more mishap. Please God, let it be for today and make me be more careful in my work and everything else. Ameen.

This year is our turn to host my father's side of the family for Hari Raya Haji.


The previous night, Kak Lily was all into baking 2 batches of Honey cornflakes (SUPER YUMMY can!?) and choc chip cookies. 150pcs of Ketupat all ready hanging in the service corridor. It's kind of a potluck so we didnt cook so much.


Out of the 9 bros & sis (excl my dad), only 3 came plus 4 of their children & family ie my cousins and nieces. The other 3 have migrated.


Just as well cos i tot it was a rather cosy gathering. They really had a nice chit chat. Something that my father and his siblings are not known for!


I especially salute Ayah's effort of preparing this sort of "khutbah" notes read after Zohr prayer together and even TAKBIR. The Khutbah is basically an English translation of 40 over verses from Surah Al-Hajj. Then, at the end was an anology of Allah's existence likened to oxygen.


Interesting. I've never thought of it before. We can't see oxygen. Nor can we touch it or feel it. Nonetheless, we KNOW it exists and it is also ESSENTIAL to our living! We can't see Allah. Neither can we touch Him nor feel His physique. But we BELIEVE He exists and He is the ultimate reason we are alive! Subhanallah. Glory be to Allah.


While the guests were in the house, Kak Lily & family went out visiting Abg Fai's side of the family. And then they returned after picking up Nur and Yayan with Ee lagging behind in his bike. What's different this time is that both their parents and even the youngest one were out working on a PUBLIC HOLIDAY!!

The almost "compulsory" pose onthe couch of Datuk's house.

Coincidentally, i was dressed in red to match the 3 siblings.

Yayan and Datuk

He had his hand casted!

Syifaa' having her bland ketupat.

She was feeling extra smiley at that time. Even before my shutter got to snap her pictures she already totted to me to look at the screen! So clever! and so cute and sooooooo GERAM!!!

It was a bit after 5pm when we finally left our house to start our visiting. So it wasn't surprising that we only visited 2 houses. Second is of course my maternal grandma's side.

The Lift shot gone wrong

In conclusion, the difference celebrating Hari Raya Haji this year are:

1. Pple came to our house
2. 4 were absent from the visiting
3. Only 2 houses
4. and of course Zubair is not here with me.
   

26th Floor

25th Floor

X-Rated!

the REAL Snowman @ 24th Floor!

He was wearing skirt!! So sporting! *thumbs up*

23rd Floor

We were greeted with a medley of Xmas songs + a sparkling grape juice. 90% were wearing RED. Very ON!!

16th Floor

Made of plastic and ballooned by Fan!! SUPER creative indeed!

1st Floor.

Due to space constraint, they decided to hang it up from the ceiling. VERY Innovative. but looked like the snowman got hang. Depressed perhaps?

I am very ashamed to say that our own floor hasnt got any snowman for show. Reflected very bad on me ley. So paisei (embarassed).

Candid Shot

Our santa giving us our AXA Miles voucher and wishing us and our family a Merry Xmas.

And this one is for you, honey.

Hmm... I wonder what's inside?

A Satsuma Shower Gel... a bar soap and a LIP BALM!!!

Yes. just what i need. I dont know where's my lip gloss gone to... so now i dont hafta buy! Alhamdulillah wa shukru lillah.