My current obsession...

Playing this Trade Nations game on the iPad. Also available on iPhone and Facebook :)

What do you do? Build your village, give jobs to your people, make money, build shops, trade your products at the market, trade with other players all over the world, collect points that can be exchanged for really cool stuff for your village and also go up to the next level... cool!

One of the cool things is that each of your people have their own name! I've got Colin Thomas who works at the "Quarry" getting the rocks to be cut by Eric Scott at the "Stone Cutter", and Avery Martin that brings the cut stones to the storage before it gets picked up by "Sculptor Shop" to make beautiful sculptures to be exchanged for points and gold coins. :)

I've also got Elizabeth Green who weaves wool into clothes at one of my "Looms" and Owen Hall who hauls the clothes to the stockpile. I chose to just buy the wool from the market now, instead of having your own pens of sheep where you get the wool from :)

I'm at level 39 at 427, 950 points now, out of 592,000 points to get to level 40. That should take another day or so :)

Langkawi Trip May 15th - May 17th, 2011

Just got back from Langkawi yesterday... photos with story-like captions on FB :)

Now semuorang sakit kaki.. lots of panjat tangga and turun tangga, from Tasik Dayang Bunting, to up on the Cable Car platforms... but it was fun!

We LOVE Langkawi!

Blasted from the Past!!

Someone posted this photo in my primary school batch FB group just recently. 1984, when I was in std 4 at SRK Kampung Tunku I was involved in "tarian".. the school tradsitional dance team. We made it quite big, really, was selected by the panel of judges who came to our school to perform at Dewan Sivik PJ (now known as the Dewan MBPJ - tempat AF concert dulu). So sebelum budak2 AF tu perform kat situ, I have already stamped my mark on that stage ages ago.. lol!

The tarian group selection process started when I was in Std 3. I still remember gawking at the Std 5 and Std 6 girls dancing to "Hey Mickey" during their practice breaks :) And how I was assisted by Chinese seniors who taught me how to work on my Malay tarian steps. It was soo 1Malaysia then :)

I still have the certificate of participation at the Pesta Muzik Selangor in 1984 where that photo was taken. I would have never thought of seeing this photo ever in my life since I don't have any, and have not known anyone who had taken the photos then... my parents were not there to see me dance, so when this photo came up, it was really a pleasant surprise.. hehe

I'm the smallest in the photo. I also remember that I was kidnapped by either the Sri Aman or the Assunta school's dance team to take a photo with them... so if anyone who knows anyone from these school who had photos of the Pesta Muzik Selangor 1984 with a tiny cute kid, let me know lol!

There was quite a drama put up by my dad when we were in the final stages of preparation for the Pesta Muzik Selangor. As soon that he got to know I was involved in it, he went straight to the headmistress asking her to drop me from the team. Hjh Jessimah, the HM actually consulted the dance teacher and had actually came back to my dad saying it was almost impossible to drop me from the team. Aku ni terror kot... hahaha probably because it was too late to find a replacement for my spot (actually I remember they had 2 standbys to replace anyone of us).

The tarian activity was put to a halt when we were in Std 5, and somehow revived again when we were in Std 6, but I had by then lost interest in it. It's a pity 'coz that was the year when the dance team made it to the "Selamat Hari Raya" morning program where tons of people watch as they come back from the sembahyang raya and enjoying their ketupat and rendang breakfast. The new dance teacher went all the way to convince me to join them, but ntah.. dah tak minat... and obviously with no support from my parents to send and pick me up from after school practices, the interest died.

The dance we did was Wau Bulan. Great response from the audience as soon as we finished our routine. Great memories.

Birth of a new family member

April 29th, 2011, at about 9pm, the four of us welcomed the birth of a new family member.

At the same time we had to say goodbye to an old family member as well... the white replaced the black, so hopefully all is well with the new member of the family...

Sharing is Caring :)

Tgh sebok2 pasal bookfair ni saje nak bercerita... hehe pasal how we share our finances laki bini... nak kata pelik, memang, bin ajaib! hahaha..

Rumah:
Nama atas laki bini, so senang masing2 nak keluarkan duit EPF :), but yang membayar bank bulan2 tu, sayalah sebagai pemberi nafkah tempat tinggal chewah.... tapi, bab maintenance nak bagi kat management condo ni, terpaksalah diserahkan kepada isteri saya yang membayarnya... SEBAB? Company dia sponsor half of the interest loan rumah tu tiap2 bulan.... so tiap2 bulan duit free je dia dapat... so kena la share the burden bila dah dapat duit free tu kan... hehe

Kereta:
Kereta saya Kelisa je... itu saya bayar, termasuklah roadtax and insuran. Tapi saya tak pakai kereta tu. Isteri yang pakai. And disebabkan dia yang pakai, segala kos maintenance, nak tukar tayar, keta rosak ke apa ke, semuanya si tukang pakailah kena bayar...

Saya pakai kereta Wira. Isteri saya bayar kereta tu. Tapi rosak ke apa ke semua seperti biasa si tukang pakailah kena bayar...

Insuran:
Sayalah tanggung untuk diri saya dan anak2. Isteri saya punya insuran dia bayar sendiri. Dia pun memang dah ada insuran company dia cover untuk dia and anak2... company tak cover suami, so suami boycott la, bayar utk diri sendiri and anak2 je...

Groceries:
Ini di luar bidang scope saya, sebab mak saya ni memang best friend isteri saya bab2 membeli groceries (since kita makan benda yang sama most of the time - dah rumah sebelah menyebelah). Saya tak terlayan.. so bagilah orang perempuan yang melayan kehendak masing2... kalau setakat tiap2 kali gi Giant kena beli Glo 3 botol, Softlan 3 botol... aku surrender!! Bab makanan, belila apa je... masak la apa je.. apa ada atas meja, saya makan... kalau takde benda atas meja, saya cari dalam peti ais... kalau takde benda, McD ada... hehe biskut cicah air teh pun ok..

Tapi kalau selalu family makan luar, saya yang bayar... kengkadang je kalau fulus tak cukup helai, kena mintakla si isteri tanggung sikit...

Credit card:
Sapa belanja pakai credit card masing2, masing2la bayar. Dah sendiri pandai cari hutang, sendiri tanggungla! Hehehe... Kalau sesapa nak beli barang2 yang dia suka, pakai duit sendirila... tak payah mintak permission.. tapi kitorang sebelum beli benda mahal2, memang bagi hint2 dulu sebelum beli... so ada chan la masing2 nak bagi kata dua masing2 kot.. tapi basically, duit sendiri, apa salah, ye tak? beli je la... janji tak kacau commitment yang nak kena bayar bulan2 tu...

Utility bills:
Semua utility bill rumah (letrik, internet, phone), saya yang bayar... except bil air sebab dia cover sekali dgn maintenance rumah yang isteri saya bayar...

Handphone bill:
Sukacitanya saya ingin beritahu semua bill handphone saya, isteri saya yang bayarkan... hehe sebab lagi ekonomikal... dia pakai banyak for her work, so plan Maxis tu menguntungkan kalau mobile phone saya tu jadi supplementary kepada dia punya... so dia bayarlah, sikit je pun, unless saya ke luar negara yang mana bill boleh mencecah nak dekat seribu ringgit pasal roaming and what not... itu saya bayarla.. kesianla kat dia... :)

Maid:
Dah rumah saya bagi, bill- bill rumah semua saya bayar, si isteri kenala jaga rumah supaya keadaan sempurna. So kalau tak larat, diala kena bayar part-time maid untuk tolong dia.. hehehe

Kid's Education/Nursery/Susu/Pampers, etc:
Rayyan, saya tanggung. Rayhana, isteri saya tanggung. Itulah sebabnya 2 anak je.. kalau lagi satu nak tambah, hmmm... garu kepala jugak nak pikir sapa nak tanggung.. hehe

Dulu semangat baru2 kawin bukak joint account... ingat nak share duit semua... tapi for us, with the way we spend, not practicallah... biarla duit yang sendiri cari tu, sendiri punya. Ada jugak kengkadang tak cukup, so masing2 pinjam antara satu sama lain, and dibayar balik duit yang dipinjam tu dalam masa terdekat. Alhamdulillah, dah nak masuk 8 tahun kawin, tiada hutang tertunggak... hehe.. yela kalau pinjam pun setakat RM50, RM100, camtu je... senang nak cover balik..

Okay, sambung kerja.. besok big day at the KL Book Fair. The writers for the book I published is going to be interviewed on stage at the book fair, courtesy of Utusan Publications & Distributors, who distributes my books during the fair.