A New Year ... A New Baby

Its the last day of 2005 and I can't help but wonder how quickly the year had passed. There were so many things to do and before I realise it, we will be ushering in the New Year in a matter of hours. InsyaAllah, next year will bring better things for all of us, and the proposed reunion in early Janaury will be a good start to renew friendships and strengthen ties. Hopefully, more will join us in Putrajaya. I missed the OGA Raya Gathering recently, but if any of you are interested, just go to the TKCOGA blog (the link can be found at the sidebar of this blog), where Kak Ruby has posted some photos. I hope to be able to gather some good photos of our January event, to be posted here for the benefit of all who cannot attend.

Meanwhile, the good news is that our Blog had gathered quite an encouraging number of visitors. Most of them are girls from our Batch, but some are not, although they have become regulars. Very few leave comments to the postings, but I know many are just "silent" readers. Of course, most of the Sisters of 74 read the postings in their email, because the postings are sent to the egroup anyway!

For me, 2006 brings a new addition to the family ... no, I am not having a baby! It is a new addition to the Sulong family because my brother's wife has just delivered a new baby boy early this morning. At 3.54 a.m., to be exact. Here is a picture of the Baby which my sister-in-law sent via MMS.

8 hours old Baby Danial

Well, I will end this post with a New Year wish for all, and hope to see you in Putrajaya!

My Little Accident

Two Thursdays ago, I fell by the roadside while walking to a meeting and injured my knee. It was excrutiatingly painful since my knee was dislocated and I looked in horror at my bent, distorted looking knee. It was also totally embarassing since passers by stared and cars slowed down to look. Some good Samaritans and 2 policemen tried to help me up but it was too much for me. So, I tolde them to hang on, and tried to starighten my knee very slowly, until I heard (or felt?) a snap and my knee looked closer to its original state, albeit somewhat swollen! Wow, I actually did a McGyver!!! Never in my wildest dream did I imagine something like that could happen. (Of course, later the doctor told me that it was quite possible for the knee to slip back in like that easily.)

I was rushed to the nearest hospital (PUSRAWI) in a taxi flagged down by the policemen. After X-rays, I was told that I needed to be admitted and a procedure (athroscopy, I think) needed to be done. By next morning, the knee area had swollen so bad, and I was almost eagre for the doctor to do what needed to be done. Luckily, I didn't need a General anaesthetic and was awake throughout the whole proecedure!

I was given 3 weeks MC, and am now recuperating. That means I can mope around the house till after the new year! Of course, going for physiotherapy too. I still go to office now and then because there were some stuff that required my attention. Also probably, because I needed to feel useful!!!!

Anyway, I don't know if I'll be able to move around as usual. The therapist thinks that I could be restored to almost 90%. Cuma tak boleh squat saja lah, he said. It could be either impossible or too painful. Anyways, I am hopeful.

Need to lose weight though. Now that I really cannot work out in the gym to shed off the excess baggage, any ideas on some magic bullet that can shave off those extra kilos? Ha, got to put this down as a New Year resolution!

A history lesson.......

I have just discovered something very interesting (actually, I knew it long before but did not realise the extent of it). My husband's family on his mother's side has a long history that can be traced back to an Indonesian freedom fighter. Like I said I knew about it much earlier but only realise the significance of it recently.

It all started when one of his cousins mentioned about wanting to trace their family history, since he had also known about the relationship with the freedom fighter. And as a result of of his search, a big gathering of all the suku-sakat was held sometime the third week of Raya in Seremban.

It turned out that his moyang (to the power of?) was one Tuanku Tambusai (or his real name Fakeh Muhammad Salleh Tambusai, aka Tok Ungku), a respected religious teacher and freedom fighter in Indonesia. He came over to this country sometime in the 1800s, fleeing the Dutch after they had defeated or killed most of his comrades. The Tuanku Tambusai came to settle in Kg Rasah in Negeri Sembilan with some of his followers. He did not get involved in the politics of the region after that but his followers did, which had an impact on the history of our country. Jalan Raja Laut was named after one of his followers ..... so it seems.

The Tuanku Tambusai died in Kg Rasah in mid-1800s and was buried there. His makam is on a small hill, and has now been turned in a historical site by the NS goverment. The Indonesian govt has also recognised the Tuanku Tambusai as a national hero, and a plaque was place at his makam to announce this. Some of my husband's other ancestors/relations were also buried there, some as recent as within ten years ago.

By strange coincidence, I remember watching an Indonesian film on TV years ago about Tuanku Tambusai. At that time I did not know about this history so I did not say anything to my husband about it. I was watching alone and it was shown late at night. I was getting sleepy and did not wait to see the ending. Later I found out that the producer filmed his makam in Kg Rasah and inserted in the closing minutes of the film.

I visited his makam some Raya back (about 15 years ago) and visited it again recently after the clan gathering. My husband managed to get a copy of the Indonesian film and I noticed that the scene of the makam in the film was as when I first visited it. The place looks better now since it has been declared a historical site. You can drive up to the site, whereas before that we had to walk up the hill for about 150 metres.

Just for the record my husband is the 5th generation and the youngest of the clan is of the 7th generation ....... I think.

There are a lot of info about Tuanku Tambusai on the Indonesian websites but I have not seen any on Malaysian websites.

Well ...... just thought I'd share some history with you all.

I am Back!

I know it has been quite a long time since I posted on this blog. Since the fasting month to be exact, and that is way too long! What can I say? Too many things to do ... and too little time to do it! A cliche, yes, but that is the sad fact. Thanks to Jon, at least the blog is still somewhat alive.

I am happy to have met quite a number of the gang during that time, though. Some pre-arranged, while at least two, were unplanned.

It was good catching up with Adillah, Pah, Sham, Shamp, Norsiah, and of course, Jay, who I bump into every now and then (because we live nearby) and a few others (sorry if I missed out your name. Poor memory. A natural consequence of aging!) Also I was pleasantly surprised to bump into Noshi at the recent Bicara Minda with Kak Ijat at Panpac. It has been more than a year since I met her, i.e. since the last reunion. We were lucky because it was free seating and we were able to sit together and talk about ourselves, our work, the happenings, and better yet, (ahem!) exchange gossip and bitch! No, I am pulling your leg. We are too nice to do that! Also met Opah there, but she came later and sat with her colleagues from Telekom.

Anyway, all these remind me that we must have another planned get together soon. Some have mentioned the Putrajaya cruise. Maybe that will be good, though I may get seasick! Last I was on a boat like that was some 25 years ago, on a cruise along the Nile! Not sure whether I can find my sea-legs again after all that time. Mazrah, Fidz, do you remember that one! Still have the photos (sigh!)

I have started the arrangements for the 30th Reunion CDs to be duplicated, as requested. Will endevour to get it done up nicely, complete with the nice CD covers and labels. Semi-pro, gitu! Hope there is still a budget for it. Ada lagi ke, Jon?

Moving forward, I would like to take up Jon's proposal (or was it Jay's or Hafiz's) to do another one on the Sisters of 74, this time with photos of all (if possible) our girls and their updates. Better yet, if we can get everyone to submit a video of themselves giving their updates personally. Well, we can discuss the details, but its worth a shot. (Ani Che Dan, yang ni kalau your hubby nak copy for his Batch, kena bayar royalty!) Any ideas, anyone? Caution though, you tend to look much bigger in the videos, so I better start going back to the gym!!!)

Let's start the ball rolling, in time for the next reunion. Otherwise there won't be enough time to complete this Project.

I have to go. Dah lapar ni. Salaams to all.

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.