Dah habis Puasa ..... Makan-Makan Pula .........

Hi semua, wishing everybody an enjoyable Hari Raya celebrations.

I celebrated Raya at my in-laws this year. Every Raya we alternate antara my kampong and my hubby's, and this year it is his side punya turn. So tak da la rushing sangat pasal nak cuti cos it is not far from KL, we went back on raya eve morning. The traffic was okay. I suppose most people started off masa weekend before that or on Deepavali.

Raya tahun ni is just a quiet affair, (maybe because both my in-laws are not that well) but the obligatory rendang and kuah lontong tu masih ada la. Followed by the visits to the rumah-rumah sedara. By the evening semua dah macam normal, just waiting for other relatives to make the return visits. We came back to KL on the morning of the 3rd raya and visited a couple of relatives' houses before balik rumah.

Sunday (4th day) was quite busy for me cos that day all my sisters and brothers came over. Bukannya I plan to have an open house hari tu tapi terpaksa.

To start from the beginning, my younger sister left her car at my house bila dia balik kampong for raya. She happens to be the only one who went back kampong. All my other siblings celebrated raya in KL or with their in-laws. Before you start thingking 'eeee teruknya !!!!' everybody ada reason why they did not go back for raya. Lagipun my parents sekarang ni tinggal with my younger sister in Puchong, and only went back kampong for Ramadhan. On Sunday tu all three of them (father, mother and sis) datang balik ke KL. Since kereta dia ada kat my house, of course they have to come her first. Naturally, adik-beradik yang lain tu pun datang sini la sebab nak raya dengan my parents and dengan each other.

But it wasn't that difficult really. Since semua dah tahu yang my house is going to be the meeting place we agreed to have a pot luck gathering. So I made mee curry and my other sisters bawa rendang, nasi himpit and kuah kacang. My daughter baked a cake and we ordered some satay. Semua sekali I thing ada la about 35 people semuanya, including some cousins who also dropped by when they knew that my parents are at my house.

I thought that is the end of the raya makan-makan that I have to prepare for, tapi petang tadi my daughter pula dah hint-hint nak buat makan-makan raya untuk kawan-kawan dia. Ikut her estimate ada la around 20-25 orang. Tak habis lagi la nampaknya.... ini yang kakaknya, yang adik tu tak cakap pula berapa ramai. I told them, kalau nak buat kena buat together cos I tak nak letih dua kali. And they have to promise to help me prepare for it and plus the cleaning up.

Just to let you know, I don't have a maid. But I am thankful because so far I don't have much problem in getting all my three children, including my son to help whenever we have a big gathering of people for makan-makan. That includes the washing up before and after which I know ramai yang tak berapa suka buat, especially the cleaning up after.

Okay that's it for now. Got to start thinking of the menu........

Al-Fatihah

Our beloved PM's wife, Datin Seri Endon, passed away this morning just before 8.00 a.m., after a few years of battling cancer. Allahyarhamah's twin sister passed away a few years back, also from cancer.

May Allah's Blessings be on Allahyarhamah.

You may post your condolence message at the following link:

http://www.pmo.gov.my/doc/takziah.nsf/blog?OpenForm

Hari Raya.... Baju Raya... Kuih Raya......

Dah masuk 3rd week puasa but still having problem to wake up to prepare sahur every morning. Yang lepas-lepas, I only need to rely on the alarm clock only during the first week of puasa. After that I will be awake before the alarm sounds. Tapi kali ni lain pula, still susah nak bangun sahur. Kadang-kadang tu bila alarm dah bunyi rasa macam nak 'snooze'kan dia dua tiga kali lagi. After sahur, if I allow myself, I can even go back to sleep. Kenapa ek? dah feel the age agaknya. Tapi biasanya as you get older you don't need much sleep, yang I perhatikan la....

Am taking a break from my sewing project.

I am a slow stitcher. Kalau nak jahit apa-apa tu kena jelujur dulu, kalau tidak result dia jadi senget. Tambah pula my machine is only a light portable one, so the stepper foot tak ada grip sangat. Kalau nak rely on pins saja, sure senget punya. Tapi dah banyak jasa tu.. bertahun dah I guna. Dapat juga la save me money on the tailoring costs.

Early in the fasting month, my daughter yang kat UIA asked whether I can sew baju kurung for her friend. Most tailors dah tak nak ambil cos dah mula puasa. I said I can't cos at my pace, tak sure boleh siap or not for Raya. Maybe next year boleh consider kut, lepas juga la duit raya untuk all the anak-anak buah nanti... ha ha ha...

Now working on my daughter's 3rd baju raya... hari raya punya pasal. Finished four already (mine and my two daughters altogether), at least the machining part, tinggal nak kena siapkan yang jahit tangan. Normally, I will leave this to the individual owners. So my youngest one dah siap three-quarters dia punya. My other daughter belum lagi cos dia kat UIA lagi, next weekend baru balik.

Kuih raya belum tengok lagi, kena buat juga tu nak bawa balik kampung. Masa kerja dulu beli saja. Tak payah bawa balik kampung pun cos my mum-in-law rajin buat biskut raya. And when time for us to return to KL, she would pack the biskut for us to take back. Sekarang dia pun dah tak sihat sangat, so the anak and menantu pula la yang bawa balik. Maybe buat sikit dulu, kalau tak cukup buat pula lepas raya, sendiri punya (as if.....).

Balik kampung nanti ikut lebuh raya......Jaaaaaam......

Old Friends and other memories ...

It really is great hearing from you again, Maton. Sure, we have heard and read the stories about your family, and we were quite concerned. However, knowing what the media can be like sometimes, we took it all with a pinch of salt and have given you and family the benefit of the doubt. We hope and pray for your happiness and well being. And we look forward to your homecoming and, like Hafiz said, we hope we can all meet at a reunion of the Class of 74! And hopefully, with Puteri too, as well as all the other girls whom we had not been able to locate after all these years.

Hafiz, you really have such good memory! Aah ... the summer of 76! (Sounds like a Movie!). I remember that summer! It was such a joyous one month that Midah and I spent, mainly in the company of you and the friends from Exeter (did I get that right?). Actually, my cousin, Najib was supposed to be our host but when we told him we wanted to meet our friends from TKC, he took us to Malaysia Hall and all we had to do was hang around there and pretty soon all these familiar faces started popping up! You, Mazrah, Fetty, Atel, and all the rest. Really wonderful! Those were such carefree days. And after that, you, Mazrah and Ani reciprocated with a surprise visit to Cairo! That was really crazy! At that time, English wasn't too widely spoken in Cairo and these bunch of girls managed to make their way to our apartment. Really brave and rather cool!

Hmmm ... a bit sad that at this stage of our lives, we do not have that much time to spend with our old friends. Recently I went to Dillot's house and it was really fun! Dillot is still very much the cheeky girl with whom we shared a room on the ground floor of Block F. Believe me! That Mak Datin really rocks! If any of you remember the swimsuit parade in that room in 73, you get the picture. Hehehe ... jangan marah Dillot.

Anyway, still wondering what happened to Ju (Gopeng), Liza (Norhayati), Desna, and others we have not seen in quite a while. Anyone know their whereabouts?

I have never done this before, blogging I mean, so here goes.

I have just given my fishes a heart attack, so I thought this should calm me down a bit. I know they say you have to take out all the fishes when cleaning their house, but I have guppies in my small pool and there are tens of them ( hundreds maybe, including all the tiny ones) so I can't possibly scoop all of them out. It's just a small pond with a nusantara-style pasu in it that acts as a fountain. With all the news about dengue going on now I thought I'd just clean it up a bit (the guppies are placed there to eat up the mosquito larvae). So, I just pump out the dirty water leaving just barely enough for them to swim about, and refill with fresh water. At the same time I just sort of stir up the tiny pebbels at the bottom to raise up the dirty stuff so that it will be pumped out as well. And the fishes will be swimming helter skelter just to get away from me. But at the end of it I thinnk they are still okay 'cos they are all swimming around none the worse.

Anyway back to the topic. Like I said I've never done this before but there has to be a first time for everything. I always thought that bloggers have to have a statement to make. Well I don't have any (unless you consider scaring my fishes is a big statement).

Before quitting I used to work in a bank. My work involved working on and leading projects for developing the bank's products before launching them out. We usually work in teams anything from 10 to 20 people, depending on the size of the project. The work involved creating something out of nothing, save for a brief predetermined product rules. But of course these rules can change if we see the need based on our findings during the development work.

We have regular meetings and discussions working out all the processes and systems and procedural requirements. Ever so often when we are stuck at some point and cannot see how to proceed, someone in the team would casually say "takpa... kita buat dia" (loosely translated 'never mind ... we make them'), and then we just go back to the last agreed point and start again. That is when changes to the rules are proposed and new ones made. Based on that that philosophy I'd like to think that I have been successful on all my projects.

Until now, even after quitting, I find that this still works for me. I determine how I want to live my life. If I want to feel good.. I do good. Sometimes when I meet up with old office friends, they always ask what I am into now ( buat apa sekarang? ada buat bisnes ke? dah dapat kerja baru ke? tak boring dok rumah?) As if it cannot be imagined that I may actually enjoy staying at home and not working (as if staying at home is not work).

So I say to all 'kita buat dia'.

So kalau tak nak rasa bosan jangan dok saja-saja, definitely you will feel bosan. If you chose to be bored, then boring la rasanya. I have always liked needlework, ever since young. While working I don't have the time to indulge in these things, so sekarang boleh la. I have been sewing my own raya clothes plus my two daughters'. Then there is the garden....and the fishes...
However, I still have some work to do on cooking. Bila tiba masa nak kena masak tu rasa berat sikit la...

Alhamdulillah, until now I have no reasons yet to feel otherwise'. And I pray that I still have the openness in mind to think positively out of all that happened and may happen, InsyaALLAH.

So again, 'Kita buat dia'.

Wan Faizon is In The House!

Welcome aboard, Jon. I am glad you decided to take up the invitation to be a contributor to the Blog. And I look forward to read your postings, photos, etc.

Is anyone else interested? Just send me your email and I will do the necessary. For those not yet in the contributor list, you can still put in your comments on the posts in the blog. Tapi kalau you nak story sendiri, please send me your info.

Ani Salim, I sent you the invite some time back. Boleh respond, tak? I am sure you banyak cerita for us. I ni, not exactly the storyteller in those good old days. In think I was better known as a Cartoonist, because at the reunion last year, many asked me what happened to my cartoons? Hmm... probably got lost somewhere in the paper chase! That will be another story I guess. Coming soon to a Blog near you.

I know sometimes I may sound quite frivolous when I post on the Blog. Bukan apa, release tension. This is one of the few places where I can let it all hang out (OOPS ... almost all!) because all of you have known me since we were kids, so I have nothing to hide and I can be the real me without being afraid that I will be judged. I am sure Ani CD feels the same ... just look at her when she is with us! The young Ani CD resurfaces and there is almost no inkling ofthe person that she is now, i.e. some hotshot corporate climber minding the moneybags of a huge corporation! Except, when the prefect or debator surfaces and she becomes a bit intimidating!!!Jangan marah, Ani. We all love you.

The point is, please do not let your fear of being judged by the other sisters here hold you back from posting. After all, we are old friends, and I am sure we are all past that. Lagi pun tua tua ni, you can speak your mind! So, let go of your inhibitions and give it a go!

And finally, Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan Al-Mubarak.

Blog Report aka Contributions, Anyone?

A thought just occurred to me. Apart from Hafiz's earlier posting and Zid's previous comments on this blog, no one else from our Batch is posting anything on this blog! So, it has ended up being filled with rambling and monologues from yours truly!

When I started this, I anticipated that initially the postings and comments will be quite slow, but I had hoped that things will pick up as we all begin to get the hang of it. However this did not materialise and I am now wondering if I should just discontinue this and just concentrate on my own personal blog.

Most of you are probably reading the postings from the yahoogroups because I have linked it to the group. Notwithstanding this, I must say that the traffic to this blog is picking up. And that it has quite a few regular "readers", both locally and abroad. Some are entirely not related to TKC or our Batch but landed here through the searches and links. And some of these "accidental" visitors had stayed on to read the postings!!! And I think, though I cannot confirm it, we have at least one or two Sisters of 74 reading this from the UK. Maton, is that you?

I noticed that in the tkcoga blog, most of the postings are from K Ruby, but at least members are responding with comments to the postings. You see, apart from contributing by writing your own postings, you can also put in your comments to these posts by clicking the "Comment" link at the end of every post. You can also post photos, etc., whatever strikes your fancy. And it doesn't have to be lengthy works of art either! E.g post a photo of your son's ( or daughter's) wedding, or photos of yourself before and after the slimming regime you have been adhering to the last six months(?), your favourite recipes, an article you read which could be of interest, or even an interesting site you visited (just type in the link, no need to write about it!) I know that initially we all experience some hesitance ... orang nak baca ke? ... malu lah! ... am I baring to much about me? ... Tak pandai tulis lah! ... etc. But I can almost guarantee that once you have started, you will really begin to enjoy it.

At the beginning of the creation of the blog, some of you have expressed that it may not be necessary because we have the newsgroup, and that we are too busy to access different sites, apart from our emails. And not everyone stays glued to the computer from morning to evening! Point taken (albeit, sadly), but I was hoping to show that with all the hectic schedules which leaves so little time for us to catch up with one another, we can share more of ourselves through the blog. Anyway, I hope to get some views from all of you in respect to whether there is any point in continuing this blog? If you can't respond to this at the blog, just email me, or through the yahoogroups.

Looking forward to your views. Love and Best Regards.

I finally got soft copies of the photos of the Sabah trip. Thought I'd share them with all of you. That's me with the red helmet , seriously rowing away!

It was pretty good fun, though tiring. But as I mentioned in the previous post, I think Jeram Besu was a bit more challenging! Anyway, my body, especially my shoulders still ached the next day. I was frantically looking for a good massage the following day!

The next photo was taken by my colleagues who went to the Kinabalu Park the following day.

The Rafflesia is the the world's largest flower and is also one of the hardest to find. I didn't join the trip to Kinabalu park, but my colleagues who did were lucky to come across this one, which is in full bloom. Apparently, Sabah is known to have the largest concentration of the Rafflesia population. This exotic flower takes up to 15 months to bud and only lasts 7 days in bloom. Its Malay name is Bunga Pakma and some of you may already know that it is also sought for its medicinal properties. Some history ... the first Europeans to discover the Rafflesia were Sir Stamford Raffles and Dr Joseph Arnold. They stumbled across one whilst on a field trip near Bengkulu, Sumatra in 1818.

And finally, sunset as seen from the hotel we were staying, Sutera Harbour Resort.

With that, good night all!

Good to Be Back

Aah ... its good to be able to sit down with my laptop and start connecting with my friends again. I have been away since August 24th, for a long awaited break from work, and after that I was in Kota Kinabalu with most of my colleagues for a team building cum holiday retreat.

The break was good. Time spent with family is always wonderful although this time it was tinged with sadness since my cousin, Sazali, passed away that Saturday morning in Penang, when he succumbed to dengue haemorrhagic fever. He was all of 30. As a result, the wedding reception for another cousin took a back seat. I think I shall write about Sazali's passing in another posting, if I am up to it.

The KK trip, though short, was pretty tiring. I didn't realise KK was THAT hot and humid! I was practically melting! Thank God for the rafting trip at the rather "gentle" Kiulu River, which is categorised as Grade 1 to 2. Was told by the guide that it is good for beginners, families with children and the not too adventurous (?). That was my second experience at white water rafting, the first being at Jeram Besu, which I was told is a Grade 2 to 4, and fast gaining popularity as one of the most challenging white water-rafting areas in the country. Gradings aside, I felt I certainly had more adrenalin gushing when I was doing Jeram Besu.

Anyway, gentle or not, my muscles ached from all that rowing, almost 10 km, I was told. Must be from lack of exercise, and also the fact that we all didn't do any warm-ups before all that rowing! And, sigh, probably age as well!!!

If there was anything I missed about beimng away from home, it was the food. I guess the locals do not like very "padas" food and Mis Hot Pallete here certainly fopund the food rather bland. So, for 4 days, I was practically starving!

I apologise if I haven't been answering emails all this while. Didn't feel like lugging around my laptop, and wasn't inclined to be holed up in some internet station. And K Ruby, if you are reading this, sorry I didn't respond to your request regarding the discussion on the tkcoga blog.

Also wanted to congratulate the group on the increased traffic to our blog. Way to go, girls! Now, it would be even better if you start your postings, right? :-)

Memories

I was supposed to go to Putrajaya today, for the lunch with Norsiah, Nin, and gang. But the haze made me reconsider. I didn't fancy driving all that distance in the smog, knowing full well that it is worse in Putrajaya! Besides, I am rather sensitive to dust paticles, smoke, etc and the sinus could start acting up. I have been lucky so far, though! Alhamdulillah.

So, I called Nin to convey my apologies. Runmaging through my computer files, I found this one called TKC Memories. It contained contributions from our Sisters of 74 in response to my request for anecdotes, etc on some of the stuff we remembered about our time in college, for the video during our 30th Reunion. So, since this blog has become mostly a monologue by me, I thought I should share these contributions from Jay, Hafiz, Atel, Haizan and Jon.

Jay:
a favourite on Saturdays...tak ingat how many times a month a few girls from various forms dapat go out shopping for the house. Yang dapat pergi will takeorders from housemates the day before. Favourite orders... biskut cheese, ABC with santan and mesti pergi kedai Wah Tung (if I am not mistaken) beli themost lovely and soft cream cakes at the time and also biscuits, macam pastry, long rectangle shapes, glazed with sugar and have raisins. (Sampai kahwin pun kalau balik kampung, I cari biskut tu sebelum we bypass Seremban ikut North-South Highway).Lepas tu tunggu Pak Cik kat bus stand. Bila Pak Cik apply the hydrolic brakes, bunyi macam keluar angin and kekadang Pak Cik saje jerk-jerk...cukup seronok

When we first came in Form 4, habis prep our sleeping time was 9.30 pm I think. Masa tu mana lah boleh tidur...dah biasa tidur lambat tengok tv katrumah. Yang rajin, buat homework kat corridor or baca kat toilet, yang lain duduk ramai2 on the beds sampai bergayut spring katil. Bila dengar footsteps prefects and resident staff, masing2 berlari lintang pukang lompat atas katil masing2, satu2 bunyi kiok,kiok spring or bunyi katil dilanggar. Bila kena tegur,semua senyap pura2 tidur tak mengaku.

Can anyone recall, before we came berapa helai kain batik, bra, panties, t-shirts, blouses etc can we bring. Orang bodoh lurus macam I ikut exactly...takcukup nak pakai. Semua mesti ada code kan kena check selalu by resident staff. Our bilik must be super clean and neat... the lines on the bedspread mesti sama aje and mosquito net tegak tak boleh senget. Ape aje buat carry marks be it for the house or class. The dirtiest class kena hang broom for the whole week. Masa nak sports day punya teruk practise marchpast sampai ketiak pun melecet

Masa Form 4, our seniors esp Upper Sixers were so garang. I dont know about the other house tapi I was so afraid of them sampai jalan kat Lovers Lane nakpergi canteen, nampak senior, I boleh turn back balik dorm. Masa mula2 datang kat dining hall, mula2 hairan kenapa semua orang tak makan, rupanya kena tunggu kakak senior start first,roti pulak kena ikut buang kulit, tak cukup makan. Bertawaflah lepas tu cari roti extra, kaya, telor, esp from tempat kakak2 yang sedang diet. Bila break, tawaf collect biscuits. Bila breakfast ada scramble eggs or scramble eggs with cheese, dengar kuat bunyi daripada dining hall our juniors cincang telur yang berketul2 akibat masak dalam kawah

I do remember after prep, bukan setakat makan kat locker room, but also in the luggage room, pakai electric coil, boil water masak maggie. Kat sinilahbelajar makan maggie mentah...it tasted delicious....I remember Jiwa kept her nice clothes in the luggage bag aje( maklumlah orang istana) as she preferred to dress simple like the rest of us.

I also remember kami blue house on 1st floor mostly dari selatan. Yang utara from Perak like Nor, Ris , or Nur Hidayah from Penang tak bising tapi floor yangkat atas...( dorm you,Siti Mariah, Azah) cukup riuh tau. Masa mula-mula datang tu terkejut from downstairs can hear dorm atas memang cukup riuh

Ingat tak masa one of the the stage shows..I rasa bukan Freshies Night sebab tu semua kakak-kakak yang ajar. Our batch ade buat show with our Njo as thedirector/producer. For Achi-Achi Bukak Pintu our Ju yang kelakar dan kurus panjang was the "jembalang". The lights were off and she wore the black costume painted with skeletons in white. The way she danced as hantu was really fantastic and memorable.BTW where is she? Anybody knows where she went after college?

Hafiz:
Also, Kasma, do you want to cerita a bit about the midnite party we had in the Block F luggage room on your birthday? Some prefects suspected something and they hung around the corridor, while we were holding our breaths inside. We really had fun right? Tak terasa pun bontot sejuk sitting on the cement rendered floor in between the luggage. Nasib baik, there were no cockroaches . . . , or maybe ada kut, but they were too frightened of us that they into hiding and never came out for the nite. Shikin and the rest from Bakawali Dorm, aything to add?

And Bakawali Girls.. ,Remember how noisy the dorm was after breakfast before class? when we haveto do our duty cleaning the dorm. Esp. when Jun's duty was to dust theWindow Panes A, she'll start singing WINDOWPANESA! O. O.. OOOO...WINDOWPANESA! to the tune of a song by Santana. And she'll clean thewindow panes while she danced around, shaking and swaying her thin body.It was so funny! And Abong would be making fun of her and most of us willjoin in (join in the singing lah, not the cleaning). Those were the days!I have many pics of Bakawalians in the dorm in the CD I gave you. You maywant to use them.

And Shikin, do you remember? and if yes, can you expand on the time when weplucked a papaya from a tree near the dining hall, and the fruit had another fruit in it? I don't remember the details on why we plucked the fruit. Don't think it was for the sake of eating because we always got papaya for b'fast.

Atel:
What I still remember is that after prep we would go to our food lockers on the ground floor for our supper, usually cream crackers and the local peanut butter spread that we always buy on our outings to Seremban town.On one occasion we (Jun, Nenek (arwah),Fetty (if I am not mistaken) and I were happily enjoying our snack when suddenly a rat ran near our feet. Screams and shrieks follwed! As fast as lightning Jun started chasing and waving a towel after the rat. That was when Jun was called the RATADOR! Shrieks of laughter followed with chants of "C'mon Jun, the mighty Ratador!" with Jun running round that patch of grass between the blocks.

Haizan:
And fellow 5K classmates, ingat tak our English teacher (Mrs Lee, I think) suruh kita yang tak ada one of the English text books to go collect it at the principal's office? Needless to say, it was the 1st of April ....

Jon:
Nampak gaya, we seem to be eating a lot at college despite the complaints about the food, what with the midnight snacks, and scouring the dining hall for boiled eggs. So the presence of the pak cik mee rebus in the afternoons, almost every week must be a blessing.One of the things I remember about being a Bakawalian is how to make sure Abung gets up early every morning. Dia selalu ada problem in that area.