Sunday, October 31, 2010

Life As We Know It



Tadi at 12.10pm was the first time in 7 years that me & Ja watched a movie just the two of us. The movie - "Life As We Know It"... cool movie... great movie to watch especially for those yang dah ada anak-anak, and also those yang belum ada anak and selalu tolong jagakan anak-anak orang... hehehe

Anyways, I purchased the GSC 1-utama tickets online 2 days ago. Yesterday pulak bawak Rayyan & Rayhana gi jumpa Dr Azizi... Rayyan got his 6yo jab, while Rayhana got her ubat cacing coz twi days before that me & Ja pulled out one tiny squiggly creature out of her butt... haha! Rayyan, tetiba pagi tadi demam.. temperature 39C. Probably because of the jab. He's ok now. Besok dia nak gi sekolah...

Me & Ja went to the movies around 11.45am, sampai just nice around 12.15pm, by 12.30pm the movie starts, 2.30pm habis, gi Cold Storage kat OU new wing tu, bought some stuff and then terus balik rumah... tak biasa tinggalkan bebudak kat rumah whenever we're not working.

But go watch the movie!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Kids' updates...


Rayyan's Genius Aulad's convocation is coming up, and so is Rayhana's nursery's sports day... 2 interesting events coming our way in a few weeks before and after Raya Haji. We're going back to Kota Bharu this Raya Haji. As usual, tak sanggup nak drive balik Kelantan during Raya breaks...

Muka Rayyan bercalar-calar dicakar Rayhana.. hehe.. and mamat tu bagusla pulak tak kacau adik dia balik... most of the time senyap je.. continue main dgn adik dia.. paling teruk pun nangis.. and that is when he's moody... longing for attention :)

I bought Rayhana German's own "Die Spiegelburg" small backpack at Frankfurt Airport duty free shop for 15 euros (surprisingly, it's made in Germany.. hehe.. I thought everything now dah gi China or some 3rd world country.. haha), and since then she and the backpack have been inseparable... she loves it so much.


Even insisted to bring it along to school every day, so saja je Ja letak 1 diaper, in there.. coz Rayhana already has the big backpack for her nursery filled with all her diapers, baju, susu, etc..

I am thinking of sending Rayyan to Kumon during the school holidays.. just to brush up his Math, instead of playing/watching tv 24/7 at home. There's one Kumon center in my office building so probably it's good that I send him there while I'm at work. I wish I can spend more time tutoring him, but it seems impossible at the moment. Sayang betul... the time I have with him now, better spent on just having fun/ playing with him rather than focusing on academic materials.. hehe

Rayhana is still as cheeky as ever... bila dah dapat mulut, bersuara non-stop, kalau tak cakap dengan orang, dia cakap sorang2.. nyanyilah, kira 1-10 sorang2, alif ba ta sorang2, mumbling ntah apa-apa... it's fun to watch her playing by herself.. hehe tapi bila ada orang (other than those yang ada kat rumah) dia senyap... kalau tak, mak nenek betul...





Saturday, October 23, 2010

Apa ada pada Dr...


It's 3am and I still can't sleep.. actually slept petang tadi and only woke up around 10pm or so.. and not only that... the kids are also up.. watching Charlie & the Chocolate Factory... I dug up the old DVD and Rayyan and Rayhana love it and have been watching it over and over again for a few days now... Ja? seperti biasa... tido.. she's working tomorrow..

Several heated discussions are going on among my MRSM friends on FB and I feel it's worth mentioning here so bolehla lain kali kita suruh tailor kita ukur kain cukup-cukup untuk badan kita, jangan terlebih, jangan terkurang... and make sure we know our own measurements :)

It started of with a friend's honest posting of Hitler's quote something about he didn't kill all the Jews. He left some alive so other people will know who they actually are so we can find the answer to see why he killed them.

A few of us posted some light remarks on the quote when suddenly this friend of ours, who is now a specialist doctor based in Ireland, whom we knew as one of those typical rich PJ partygoer brat (basically tak alim la.. hehe), commented, lashing out at all of us with all this preaching about the true teachings of Islam, saying it's wrong to kill Jews as not all of them are Zionists, etc... just like orang yang tak pernah buat dosa...

Okay he made a point. But somehow the point was overshadowed by the way he made his point. He belittled everyone there, especially a couple of our own friends, saying words and phrases like "low mentality", "verbal diarrhea coming from a 10 year old child mentality", labelling our friend as a "scumbag with epic low mentality" and how he can't imagine us being friends with this "low life scumbag", "you don't challenge me because you never win, and even if you do, I can make you feel so low that you wish you never even born", etc...

We've had similar problem with this Dr before on FB. Preaching in similar manner on different topics... it seems nothing is positive coming out of him, suggesting what a sad life he pretty much had since we last seen each other 20 years ago. Some even joked that becoming a doctor was too much for his brain to handle that he just snapped! Putus segala wayar2 dalam otak.. lol!

The person whom that particular Dr attacked in his comments was his classmate, together with me masa kat MRSM, and at that time, that Dr. takdela terror mana pun. Nak banding dengan me and that friend he was hurting tu.. kitorang berdua ni jauh "terror" daripada dia... it's just that he goes to become a doctor, and we both chose engineering.

Which comes to an interesting argument on the level of intelligence that the doctors we have in our country. Are they living up to the trust that we have on them to save our lives?

I had an interesting discussion with another MRSM friend who is an Associate Proffessor in Chemistry at UPM few months ago. She was one of those high flyers masa kat MRSM, together with my friend yang kena kutuk kat FB tu and ehem ehem.. to a lesser extent me.. haha. When we looked back at the doctors that we have now, it's funny that many of them are not that terror masa studies. We have about 20 or 30 medical doctors probably more that came out from our MRSM alone and most of them were not that excellent in their studies.. not straight A's, not even straight B's, in fact. But since diorang ni from MRSM, mungkinla standard tinggi sikit.. but then again, we questioned at how easy it was for these people to become doctors now, specialists even.

I kata kat my professor friend tu, biarla diorang tu, probably they've changed, and kalau nak banding dgn kita ni, at least they learned more on this doctor/medical stuff than us, so it makes them more trustworthy when it comes to medical stuff.. but my friend and me concluded that pasal tu la banyak doctor yang bagi prescription salah.. haha we can do better if we ourselves do some internet research and check our findings with experienced specialists... which I always do with the doctors I've been in contact with since I have my own family to take care of.

(jap... nak kena buat susu for Rayhana.. apa nak jadi anak2 aku ni dah nak pukul 4 pagi tak tido2 ni... hehe)
Ok now, coming back to that "arrogant" specialist friend of ours, it's sad that he has regarded himself as a superior human being, taking pride on being able to heal and save people's lives and kutuk sekutuk-kutuknya, merendah-rendah orang-orang lain yang bukan doctor (termasukla member aku yang jadi Senior Systems Engineer, now about to work with IBM in Melbourne)... that made all of us look like pariahs in his caste system. Not the slightest sense of humility came out of him at all... no jokes, no fun, just "verbal diarrhea" of condemnation... :)

sedih... kalau macamnila cara seorang doktor pakar "terpelajar" beragama Islam menyebarkan dakwah, macamanala orang lain pandang kat kita ni "orang-orang Islam bawahan".... na'uzubillah...



Friday, October 22, 2010

Still takleh tido...


Jet lag tak habis-habis... probably masa kat Frankfurt aritu pun tido lambat sampai almost 1-2am every night...

Love the train rides in Europe like the ICE - InterCityExpress trains that go at least 120km/hr.. I've also been on the Paris-Geneva TGV (my ultimate dream came true 2 years ago... ni pasal cerita Mission Impossible lah ni...) that went about 300km/hr... I wish the hi-speed train from KL-Singapore project becomes a reality.. only 1.5 hours ride!! But the price janganla macam cekik darah... like my TGV ride tu was free, since we already bought the Eurail tickets about 400 Euro that covers 2 weeks of trips across 3 European countries...

Now tengah berangan-angan nak tangkap iPad satu.. hehe still not available in Malaysia. In Singapore dah ada.. costs about RM1800+. I've checked the prices.. kat UK kalau convert it would be around RM2100+, Australia slightly more expensive than Singapore, and US still the cheapest at less than RM1600. Aritu I checked at Dubai Airport Duty Free shop... they were selling at RM3300+++ gila! Ingatkan kat Dubai bolehla dapat less than Singapore price.. bolehla swipe credit card, pastu mintak 0% installment plan... so bayar dalam RM150 sebulan for 12 mths oklah kot... but bila dengar je RM3000 lebih.. terus keluar kedai.. hahaha

I've actually buang my "ShoutOut" box sebab dah terlampau banyak spam kat situ...

I am also thinking of making this blog private... what say you? :)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Caroline in Frankfurt


This year alone, I've come across 3-4 ladies with the name Caroline. From the travel agent who booked my tickets, to the lady I met in Australia, and this time in Frankfurt, another Caroline - the 60++ year old German who hosted me at her apartment for 9 nights.

I got to know her by chance. As I was scouting for the best accommodation deals in Frankfurt for the duration of the book fair, I came across a "Craigslist" ad which I responded to. The person replied that since I was going alone, might as well he hook me up with a friend of his who has a room to let, instead of the whole apartment.

So he asked his friend, Caroline to contact me. I didn't know how she looked like, how old she was etc, but this lady could surely send/reply emails with attachments of the application forms, complete with a request of my photo so she could shortlist her candidates for the sole room she has... haha I guess I was the cutest one applied hehehe

For 60 Euros a night, that was a steal! Since the other Malaysians who were in Frankfurt had to fork out between 195-200+ Euros per night for just a hotel room with wifi.

For 60 Euros, I had the cozy room, shower room attached, a computer if I wanted to use, free wifi, free daily breakfast and night snack that consists of cereals & milk, fruits, breads, cheese, tomatoes, tuna flakes, chocolate pudding, fruit juices, chocolate milk, tea & coffee, and of course, Caroline doing my laundry, changing my towels and cleaning up my room everyday!

Service at its best!

So far I've been very lucky in getting the best apartment deals off the Internet... from the ones in Bologna, Paris, and now in Frankfurt... all had excellent connectivity to the places where I wanted to go with great facilities within the accommodation and around the area..

I wonder if Malaysians can provide such excellent service... if a 60++ year-old German lady can provide such service, it's a shame that we can't.

That reminds me.. I have to get Caroline a Malaysian thank you gift! :)

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Baru balik Frankfurt...

Just got back from Frankfurt on Wednesday. Still fighting the "gangguan ritma harian" or "lamban jet" or "lesu jet" (I swear those are the official Dewan translations of jet lag)... hehe


It was a truly fruitful trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair. Verbally agreed to get my books to be translated into German, Russian, and Spanish and to be distributed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, and all Spanish speaking countries. Now tengah sebok mengarang contract for each deal. I wish I have the money nak buat modal for the capital to support the production and demand from these countries... I punya style, takde duit, jangan pinjam, jangan expand.. Buat setakat mampu... kalau orang nampak potential, bagi je duit tu toksah banyak soal.. the money will come back to you insyaAllah... I don't have time and patience to do paperwork although people say I'm excellent at that... I just do my work, my pace, my style... :)

The book fair was HUUUUGE... didn't manage to jalan through all the exhibition halls. It was like 4 or 5 times the size of London Book Fair!! I can cover London Book Fair in just 1 day, 4 days in Frankfurt pun tak habis nak cover the Frankfurt fair...

Got the best deals in a "homestay" accommodation (paid only 60 Euros per night for 9 nights, as opposed to 190+ Euros per night other Malaysians had to pay). And that is inclusive of laundry (the landlord basuh and lipatkan), breakfast and evening snack.

Managed to sneak my way to Munich, and Salzburg (Mozart's birthplace) for 2 days for jalan-jalan... (train to Munich was 3 hrs, 45 Euros pergi balik from Frankfurt and train to Salzburg was 2 hrs, 30 Euros for 2-5 people pergi balik from Munich).

All in all I spent roughly RM6k, but Matrade will reimburse 50% of my flight and accommodation... so kalau nak ikutkan it was money well spent for the potential business I get :)

But I missed Rayhana's birthday! :( Ja, the kids and those at home did a small celebration.. but I think we're gonna make another one soon with me around :)

Friday, October 08, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAYHANA!!


Rayhana is 2 years old today!!!! Happy Birthday Rayhana!!!




Friday, October 01, 2010

Super Busy Month

Hectic, emotionally and financially draining month... lots of work done mostly in my head rather than in writing or what people would like to label as "action" (I do most R&D work in my head and not putting it down.. hehe) most of the time, if the time comes that requires for me to get it done in writing or "action", you can be sure that whatever is written/done is thoroughly researched and qualified and I can get the writeup/work done in just a fraction of the time it would take for anyone to write a full blown proposal, report, or doing the "action" as professionally as intelligently as possible.


Whatever I want to do, how I want to do it, be it business or family matters, it's all in my head, from the planning, execution, expected deliverables, all the way to the expected revenues, how to get it, and all the plan B's and C's etc.

With all that in my head, it really requires me to block off "intruders" that may come from other people's nagging, instructions and orders (gosh I get loads of that), etc., what more if the "intruders" expect me to be financially involved... that would definitely ruin all the equations and relationships between all the different entities I've already made in my head.

So I block them off.

I do have priorities.. and they change as I see fit..

Rayhana is going to be 2 years old next week.. that sure brings out a smile in me.. syukur and proud of what she can do so far at her age.

Rayyan is realizing that much of the time has been more on us blaming him for Rayhana's crying etc that he occasionally seeks affection from both of us. He would sleep while holding my arm and sometimes would put his head on my shoulder while laying on the bed watching tv... that brings out a smile in me as well...

I have so much respect and love in Rayyan for tolerating Rayhana & us blaming him on many occasions.... I occasionally "test" him to see if whatever I did to him was harsh or not.. if I could bring out a smile in him, then it's all okay...

Smile!

:)