the Seri Puteri Class of 86-90 20th Anniversary Reunion Dinner

for me, it was the most anticipated event, one that i had waited for a year. most of my close friends are my ex-classmates, so it's no wonder that i'd be so excited.

the organising committee, which comprised of 7 of our schoolmates, met regularly to discuss. there were to be a lot of door gifts, and the grand prizes for the lucky draw were the Coach bags. a dream for most women. but most important of all, we would be meeting each other, and it would be very interesting to see how much 20 years have changed them.

i was to stay with my friend Annee, who has always been a generous soul, at the Legend Hotel.the night before the event i couldn't really sleep simply because i was excited! but the bummer is that i had to present a book review session at school in the morning. 

i followed shidah and normi to Seri Pacific, where we were due to have the event, and though it was afternoon, i saw some familiar faces, and guess what? we shrieked, and we were 17 again, oblivious to the amused and bemused crowd at the hotel. 

in the evening, we got ready in our best and it was nice to see the girls (ladies) again, and obviously there were a lot of shrieks and hugging, regardless of the MC's requests for us to settle down and become proper adults like we were taught in the boarding school. imagine, some of the girls flown in from Riyadh, Myanmar, Sarawak, Sabah, Kedah... so you can just imagine the pandemonium.

we started the show with singing the school song, and a re-enactment of what usually comes next after the school song during the school assembly, which is a very light exercise (imagine, doing exercise in our magnificent ensemble and heels). we had video montages from our former Chief Warden, Pn Aminah, and our days in the school. 

i didn't get the Coach bag, though, but i got a packet of Basmathi rice. bummer! oh well. it was almost midnight when the dinner ended, and being an early sleeper, i made my way back to the Legend Hotel (where we gossiped until 2am). the rest of the girls changed into our new Seri Puteri t- shirts, and had supper at Rasa Sayang restaurant.

the next day the event still continued for some of us, like for me, i hung out with Shidah and Anne and had lunch at Chilis.

it was a blast, and it was a memorable night for all of us, judging by the hundreds of comments on the pics posted in Facebook. 

the 5 ilmu girls who always meet regularly

the cupcake that we won for the game of charades, with our school emblem on it

the 5 ilmu girls who attended the dinner

the happy 60 girls who attended the dinner

looking forward to many more gatherings in the future.

"Kita lah puteri harapan bangsa, berkumpul dari seluruh tanahair"   

Meeting with My Literature Coursemates

a long time ago, when i first started blogging, i wrote a lot about the "suffering" that the M.A. students had to undergo in UM. suffering, because, the standard is so damn high that it took me 3 years to produce a dissertation. and since 1964 there're only 47 M.A. scholars who made it and received the scroll.

anyway, last sunday i met up with Iris and Nash. Iris is motherly and gave me good advice when i was moping after a breakup and couldn't write a term paper that was due on that particular day. i owe her a lot for that. nash is a literature genius and could rattle off some thinker's name during Literary Theory and talked about his seminal work. he was the one who helped me with my dissertation - we discussed regularly and he also went through my working chapters before i sent them in to my supervisor.

in short, these people were there when i needed them. 

so when Nash said he's flying to Australia to do his PhD this 24th, i had to see him. and so did Iris. it was fun meeting them, and memories of us having lunch before the next class some years ago flashed in my mind. i told Nash i'm going to miss talking to him. 

well, Nash, good luck in your PhD!

Gym Hopping

after my return from terengganu, i decided to take a look at the celebrity fitness gym at wangsa walk, as it's a commercial gym and has a lot of classes and the fact that the parking fee is only RM1 for 3 hours. that surely is dirt cheap compared to what i had to pay for  2 hours of parking at KLCC (RM8). 

i went to wangsa walk with shidah, who graciously took me there so that i could buy my supplements from Vitacare there. as i said, i only wanted to check out the place, but these people were telling me that they'd reduce the monthly payment if i sign up on first visit.  it was a spontaneous act, and i didn't plan to sign that day, but i guess that's one of the tactics they play.

this is my 3rd week there, and although i hate the exorbitant parking fees at KLCC, i miss the quietness and the privacy. it's always packed at the new gym, and i have to get used to the equipment (the old gym uses Nautilus). i was disappointed though, that the lockers and the shower rooms are small, and that some of the equipment isn't actually brand new (it should be, since the branch at wangsa walk just opened last year) i can actually spot a tear on one of the pads of the equipment, and the safety clip one clips on when on the treadmill is actually rusty. the only thing good i can say about the gym is that they have a lot of interesting classes like belly-dancing , latin mix, hip hop dancing and a class called batuka (i really don't know what it is).

oh well, i just have to adapt, don't i?  

The Return to the Beach and Land of Good Food

i had to settle a few things regarding the house in terengganu. i didn't want to go back alone though, so i asked mozie to accompany me. she's happy to oblige.

terengganu is a nice place for those who like a laidback life at the beach with plenty of cheap good and fattening food. not to forget - a place full of artwork, what with the production of quality brassware, songket weaving, batik sarung and colourful, sophisticated and elegant batik silk.

which is why i made a point to stop at kuala kemaman to have otak otak and pulut lepa at Aziz Satar. mozie likes satar, so she bought those. with those in our hands, we made our way to Pantai Mak Nik which was nearby and had our lunch there.  ah the beach!

we arrived in KT at nearly 4pm. the house was in a mess, but the tall grasses and weeds had been cleared by my neighbour. thank god for pak din. that evening we went to have fried seafood at the beach at Teluk Ketapang. earlier, mozie's friend told her to eat fried seafood at ICT, and i thought, what is ICT??? my answer was answered later.

there's no other nicer place to eat freshly fried seafood than at the first stall at Teluk Ketapang, since it's facing the beach - so while eating the crunchy seafood and sipping coconut drink, you can enjoy the evening seabreeze. there're a lot of cars at the first stall, and during the school hols more often than not, you'll find out -of-state car registration numbers. finding an empty spot there is also a problem, as you can see judging by the rows of cars there. one has to go to the counter and wait for the makcik to dump the freshly fried mackerels or calamari or crabs or prawns onto a big tray, and with an empty plate(s) in hand, one will try to dive into getting the perfect catch (or grab for any catch at all, since the seafood disappears just as soon the makcik puts it on the tray. people really have long hands when they're hungry). however, it's different with fried calamari. the makcik will dish the fried calamari rings onto the plates herself - and this is the best of all the fried seafood there.

so, happy with my catch, i made my way to the table and then mozie told me "look to your left" and there i saw it on the signboard "ICT" which translates into ikan celup tepung (fish dipped in batter). well, i've been going there since 1999 and i didn't know that it was called ICT. 

the next day we went to Pasar Kedai Payang and spent a lot of money there. it's a curse to be a woman - can you see those gorgeous silks and not buy them? i think not. there're always new designs around, and usually the new designs come out during the school hols. we met with another friend, Norni who had her boys with her. we then met later that night for a dinner with a few other friends.

the next day it was back to the market and we bought beef floss, keropok, and more silks.i met with my friends Shima and Ah Chooi, who i hadnt met for quite some time. Shima was busy with her thesis, rushing with all the lab tests, and ah chooi was busy moving her tuition centre to a new spot.

we finally started our journey back to KL after doing the last shopping at pasar kedai payang and having lunch.of course, we stopped to take pic at our favourite spot in dungun.