Saturday, December 20, 2008

Things I Learned

i've been spending time with a lively and nice group of people for the last 11 days. being the baby of the group, they taught me a lot in terms of of being a teacher, being professional, and being a good person.

of course, it is hard when you're 1 year corn (setahun jagung) but it helps when your colleagues are very understanding and are helpful. i also learned that it helps when you give them reason to respect. because respect has to be earned.

yes, i'm lucky to be in the group - a small group comprising a selected few.

but they are also my friends and my mentor.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

my raya haji

it is universally accepted that food is central to family and friend bonding activities. my family thrives in these eating activities and will come up with delicious concoctions, often than not they are concoctions that will make cardiologists sigh.

although in the past, we could expect a certain dish from a certain house, for this raya, it was something unplanned - all my siblings (except for my favourite brother) decided to have nasi dagang as the main dish on the table.

i groaned.

to eat nasi dagang once a year is okay. but to eat the pulut based dish more than once in a day is another. of course, the only consolation is that we ate tuna to go with the rice, but you can well imagine how you will feel like after feasting on such a rich meal - you will experience mid-day slump soon enough, or you can happily snooze, happy with the thought that your tummy is well-fed (and snug).

i ate the nasi dagang 3 times yesterday. oh lazy lazy days!

Friday, December 05, 2008

life in KL (for me)

i've almost settled in now. except for my boxes of literary theories and novels and my paintings and pics, that is. otherwise, i'm doing ok. i'm happy to say that the existence of the supermarket just across the road really is a convenience, a big convenience and i know that anytime i've run out of fresh ginger or need fresh meat i can count on the supermarket.

since this is a school holiday, i've been spending my time meeting my friends and also at my sister's house in PJ, being "summoned" by my mother. i spend my nights here just like when i was in trg, until my bro in-law asked me 2 nights in a row if i was going out. i think the fact that i said i prefer to stay in surprised him, because when i was staying here while doing masters, i was always out almost every night. i guess this has something to do with maturing up. of course, if i can attend MPO concert or go to the theatre, i won't miss the chance; but i'm content to be at home, as i told my bro in-law, those days are gone. it's a bid strange isnt it? you crave and crave for something then when you finally have it, you just dont want it anymore.

now i understand how my favourite brother feels when he flies to other international cities. yes, granted, i'm an avid traveller, and at first i couldnt understand my brother who spends his time in all these exciting cities cooped up in a hotel instead of discovering the novelty of the cities. just last 2 weeks he went to paris and did not leave his hotel - which was at the airport.

yes, i'm staying at one of the most 'alive' places in KL. 5 years back i would be out watching movies or attending MPO concert or going out for a dinner at chilli's or just to revel in the KL night life. now i'm comfortable to be at home. getting older, perhaps? haha.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Uprooting myself : the fatigue

it was raining in terengganu. i was worried, wondering if i could drive safely to KL. and while it was raining, i was cooped up in the house, packing stuff into cardboard boxes. at the last count, there were 30 boxes. on the hijrah day, i was sleepy as i there was a morning drizzle. but by the time the lorry arrived, it had stopped raining, and i was hopeful that my drive would be a pleasant one. well, aside from the sleepiness (was too excited the night before) it was ok. the lorry arrived the next morning, and the unloading started. it was a very overwhelming task, to unpack everything, but my sister kak sham came over with apit, who promised to extend the astro wire himself. but he changed his mind when he got to the house: "apit mana boleh drill-drill ni. mak nora call astro la" yeah right. so in the end, i called the astro technical line and they promised to send a techie within 48 hours. that was yesterday. the techie came today when i was so groggy because of fatigue, and that took only 10 minutes.

oh by the way. today i used the new oven for the first time, and i baked bread, something i hadnt done in the last 1 year. it's good to be baking again.


in the afternoon, i thought of going to TM Point to transfer ayi's streamyx line from the house in trg to ampang. the guy told me they couldnt do it, as they have "copper problem", thus connection is really bad. i listened to the news in horror. that's when i realised how much my life depends on the net. seeing my horrified look, the manager gently suggested that i find another ISP such as celcom or maxis broadband. and so, i decided to pay maxis centre in klcc a visit. 2 hours later i was happily surfing the net with my maxis.