Happy Teachers' Day... NOT!

Okay, so Little Miss is in primary school. Last year, during Teachers' Day, she didn't get her teacher anything, despite her teachers getting all the kids Happy Mother's Day cards for their moms. I didn't want to force feed something to my kid without them understanding what it's all about, so what I did was explain to her what the day is all about. She didn't look too convinced, so I didn't want to make her do something blindly, not understanding what it means. So, no gifts and what not that year.

This year, I think she kinda got the hang of Teachers' Day. Actually, she caught on kinda quick last year, after seeing her friends and seniors getting gifts for the teachers. She said something to that effect. It might also be peer pressure, and my kid just didn't wanna be left out, so I decided, what the heck, let's just get the teachers something anyways, cos they are doing an awesome job with the kids.

So fast forward to this week. Monday, no school, cos the school had their annual Sports Day over the weekend. Tuesday, Little Miss got fever, so no school for her then either. Wednesday was when she went to school. Coincidentally, Wednesday, 16 June, is Teachers' Day. I've already bought the Teachers' Day gift earlier, so I told Little Miss to bring them to school on Wednesday.

I got back home that Wednesday evening, lo and behold, the whole dang bag of Teachers' Day gifts was at home. I asked Little Miss what happened, she said, the teachers told her to wait until Friday to give the gifts cos that's when the school is having their Teachers' Day celebration.

Oh, okay. 

Wait. Hold up a minute. 

What. The. Fuck?

Really, I don't mind them having the one day celebration thing. To be honest, I actually remember the days when we used to have that at school, where we'll have performances, the teachers will sing the 'Kami Guru Malaysia' song, the HM reading the Education Minister's speech -- all of that and more, so I get it. But never could I understand why is it they feel necessary to tell a 7-year-old girl to take back a bag full of her gifts of appreciation for her teachers because she wanted to give her on the God-damned wrong day? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay fine, hadiah aku beli tak de lah grand sangat. Benda bongok je pun. Mug. The kind yang ada roses tu.  Biasa je. Less than RM5 pun to be honest. But when I showed them to Little Miss, her eyes lit up, like they were the most awesomest thing she could give her teachers. So I decided there and then that money for those mugs were money well spent. Tapi, bila Little Miss nak bagi, dan cikgu kata, eh, tak boleh bagi hari ni, bagi hari lain, kau rasa apa yang aku rasa bila aku dengar dia cerita macam tu? Little Miss looked like she always does when she told me that, but all the while I was thinking, whatthefuck, whatthefuck, whatthefuck? 

Haih. I don't knowlah. Do you think I am overreacting? Rileklah, suruh bagi hari Jumaat, bagi Hari Jumaatlah. What's the big deal kalau kau kena suruh bagi hari Jumaat pun. Thing is, pada aku, tak patut jadi pun benda cam tu. Kalau dia nak bagi hari ni, biaq pi kat dia la. Yang hangpa nak paksa jugak bagi hari Jumaat pasepa. Susah sangat ka kalau dia nak bagi hari Rabu tu?

Seriously. I dunno lah why these people are like this.

What happened to teachers like this lady?

extra prescription. yes, the Teddy Stallard story is fiction, I know. But what's more important is that I actually know of teachers who are like that in real life, so there.

Perogol Button Share dan Like

[Pinjam ayat blogger Lady Rara : I am friggin typin this with my middle finger, yo! Dan warning, aku banyak mencarut lam entry ni]

Aku bukannya pandai sangat. Jauh. Aku ni bodoh sebenarnya. Banyak benda yang aku tak tahu. 

But the thing is, as stupid as I am, I choose not to share my stupidity with everyone. Well, maybe not everyone, maybe with my friends. On Facebook, particularly. 

I am seriously pissed off. There's this one person, trying to act all smart and almost daily, shoving his political crap down every one of his Facebook friends' throats. Thing is, the guy is actually smart. And funny. I like him. He's also nice. But seriously bwoi, bring your friggin lopsided political arguments to someone who cares, dude. 

And then, there's this other girl. Also very opinionated. I like her. She's an old, virtual friend. Since I met hubs online, I kinda have a soft spot for online friends. Again, same thing, lopsided political agenda again and again. Aku pernah dengar, dulu-dululah, ada orang pernah cakap dengan aku, kalau suka jangan semua dipuji, kalau benci jangan semua dikeji. Faham tak? Aku tahu kau pro-belahmanamanaengkauprolahakudulikapa, tapi perlukah kau kongsikan semua propaganda kau dekat wall kau? Keyboard warrior kan? Suka sangat merogol button share dan like? HARAMJADAH. At least, fikir boleh? Ulas boleh? 

I have a few other friends, pun sama, sharing all their different political views. And I like all of their postings. You know why? Because, unlike some people, THEY ADD TO THE DISCUSSION. They actually think and digest and conclude AND THEN SHARE. Not becoming a mindless consumer, consume entah apa-apa, lepas tu share plus merempan sikit-sebanyak. KEJADAH? One of this friend I like happens to be in Dewan Muslimah PAS. Aku orang UMNO, aku mengaku. Tapi aku still respect dia. Aku still follow updates dia. Sebab argument dia membuatkan aku berfikir, bukan membuatkan aku meluat. Lepas tu, we go our separate ways lah. FAHAM TAK? Tak ada issue convert-mengconvert political beliefs di sini.

And another thing, kau dah besar kan? Tengah ambik Masters pun kan? Akai tak boleh guna gak. Kau reti tak research? Reti tak? RETI TAK MADAFAKAR? Kalau tak reti, meh aku ajarkan. Research  sepatutnya ialah mengajar kita untuk tidak mengambil sesuatu pada face value. Kau kena dig a bit deeper. Ini tak, nampak je link yang menarik, terus click share. JADAH WEI? Minah ni, dok share apa kau tahu? Share satu gambar screen-capture Facebook account sorang mak yang gurau-gurau (albeit kasar) pasal nak jual anak dia sebab anak dia kuat nangis. Kau ada inisiatif search ID mak baby tu? Allah, guna search bar kat atas tu je pun, bukan susah mana pun. Kau ada inisiatif nak tahu KENAPA mak tu post macam tu? Tak ada kan? Lebih senang, kau prosecute sekarang (KAU MAK HARAMJADA PEREMPUAN, SEBAB KAU NAK JUAL ANAK KAU) daripada taking the time to find out what's going on. PUKIMAK KAU LAH!

Aku tahulah, benda macam tu tak sepatutnya keluar daripada seorang emak. Aku pun ada anak. Dua orang. Tak menang tangan. Nakal. Berakal. Panjat-memanjat. Pukul-memukul. Gaduh. Bergumpal. Aku jadi tarzan at least sejam sehari. AT LEAST. Does that make me a bad mother? Anak-anak kau angel kan? Bidadari sorga macam Mak Pak dia. Dok diam. Kentut pun bau wangi. Berak pun kua Kentaki. Bila-bila nangis, bukan kua 'uwaaa, uwaaa' tapi keluar lagu InsyaAllah Maher Zain, kan? Patutlah.

Hei bongok, meh sini aku ajar kau the power of research. Thing is, ada satu adat, kalau baby sawan nangis, ubat dia, baby tu kena jual. Bukan jual betul-betul, bahalol. Jual tipu-tipu. Lepas tu, kononnya, baby tu akan elok. Aku tahulah, benda tu khurafat (tapi aku memang ahli neraka pun, ikut kau, kan? Nasib baik Nabi SAW yang kasi syafaat, doh, mungkin jugak aku bau sorga kat akhirat nanti. Kalau engkau?). Mak budak tu usaha. Mana kau tahu, panjang, pendek, kering, basah doa dia pada Allah nak handle anak dia, bodoh? 

Itupun nak kena ajar ke? Suka sangat button share tu kan? BODOH. SHEEP. Ikuttttttttt je apa yang orang share, apa yang orang like. Kalau sekadar ikut, satu hal. Ini yang share seolah-olah benda tu kau tahu fakta luar dalam apa hal? Dahlah tu, share tweets daripada entah sapa-sapa, tapi tak pernah kredit. Aku tahulah, aku follow orang yang sama, bodoh.

DISCLAIMER: Minah yang aku maksudkan ni bukan sworn-enemy aku. Dia tak de hal pun ngan aku, kecuali, benda-benda macam ni lah. Aku dah hide dia dah, so yeah, I know how to set my Facebook status updates displays. Yang benda ni, terkeluar sebab a few mutual friends started commenting, so benda ni pop up again and again. So I thought, let's, once and for all, vent everything I have to say about this, and see how it goes. Kalau lepas ni aku hangen lagi, aku unfriend je lah dia.

Oh, and another thing, mak yang jual anak tu, aku tak kenal pun dia sapa. Dia tak de bayar pun aku. Dan aku tak beli pun anak dia. For all I know, memang dia nak jual pun anak tu. Tapi pada aku, that is not the point. Aku bukan kat sini nak discuss pasal the deterioration of society, sampai nak jual-jual anak. The bigger problem or issue to me, is kenapa, hal-hal macam ni, RAMAI SANGAT BUTTINSKI, JOYAH  DAN YANG SEWAKTU DENGANNYA. Dahlah menyibuk hal orang, lepas tu pandai-pandai nak menghukum. Tapi hal macam Dirang, Sharlinie dan Nurin, TAK DE LA PULAK, melainkan untuk membincangkan macam mana Mak Dirang is a bad mother sebab leka main Facebook dan Bapak Nurin ada masalah itu ini, sebab tu anak dia kena bunuh. 

KENAPA FUCKERS? KENAPA FUCKERY SEBEGINI HIDUP BEGITU MEWAH DAN LUMAYAN KAT MALAYSIA NI?

La Valse d'Amelie

This...



is stolen form God's MP3.

ps. Di manakah DVD Amelie aku?

Ternyata Kita Belum Bersedia untuk Syurga

Dirang dah tak ada, agaknya itulah perkara yang bermain-main di kotak fikiran Roselyn Alan ketika ini. 

Dirang mati, kena bunuh, merintih lagi hati seorang emak.

Dirang mati salah aku, sadis kan? Kau boleh hidup dengan persoalan itu dalam kepala otak kau?

Iye, aku tahu, Roselyn tak patut biarkan anak dia umur lima tahun pergi kedai sorang-sorang sambil dia layan Facebook. Aku tahu. Aku pun rasa benda tu tak patut. 

Tapi, apa yang lebih tak patut ialah masyarakat. TAK ADA LANSUNGKAH nyawa lain yang nampak Dirang hari tu? TAK ADA LANSUNGKAH orang yang perasan a child in distress? TAK ADA? Lagi senang hina Roselyn daripada buat apa-apa, kan?

Dan macam mana pulak si perpetrator? Si pesalah laku? Tak ada sedikit pun naluri kemanusiaan kah? Dah kering atau memang tak ada?

Sedih. Aku sedih bukan sahaja sebab Dirang. Aku sedih sebab we live in a world where this is happening. It is now clear, ternyata bahawa kita semua belum bersedia untuk syurga.

Dirang, mama mintak maaf (iye, aku juga ibu kepada Dirang dan anak-anak lain di sekitarku. Kau pun sama. Jangan culas tanggungjawab Allah ni). I have let you down, sayang. I will work harder to make this world a better place. For everyone of us.

Sampai satu saat nanti, kita semua akan layak untuk syurga. 

Suicide Note

What if things were so bad (or that you think things were so bad) that you feel like there's no way out? Like the only escape route you can see is killing yourself?

Suicide is and always will be a sensitive subject to me. I will not delve further, but let me just say this first. In no way am I condoning suicide. I am not saying that if things go bad, killing yourself is an option. It's just that, I can understand how fragile our state of mind can be, how vulnerable our state of faith can get, that we would consider it. Suicide.

So, what if things were that bad? And you decide to end it all? Please don't think of me as morbid. I am merely thinking about what my last thoughts would be. And inevitably, the writer in me, pondered about what I would write on my suicide note.

Should I be apologetic? Should I justify my actions? Or should I just tell everyone I love them but this is just too big for me to handle?

What would you say?

Is this truly food for thought, or am I being morbid and emotional today?

ps. Iye, aku tahulah murtad seorang muslim yang bunuh diri. Apa yang aku cakapkan ni bukan pasal bunuh diri per se, I am talking about that note. About the thoughts that's running through one's mind when contemplating and even committing the act.

You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry

I think it's fair to say that most Malaysians, especially those well-connected to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube (which is what, easily 60% of Malaysians? :P), are now aware of the brouhaha surrounding a certain customer who got punched by a KFC worker. 

Apa? Semua dah tahu dan dah blogged all about it? I am slowpoke indeed. Oh well. 

Due to this incident, cliched, vomit-inducing, unimaginative writings galore ensued. Gems such as "Instead of getting his fried chicken, the customer got a zinger instead. TO HIS FACE" or "the hot and spicy situation was witnessed by no less than 20 patrons who were also queuing up for their food" cropped up, oh, here and there (nope, not gonna give them the pageviews). My question is, really writer, did you go to school for them shit? -__-

Okay, les get back to the story at hand, shall we?

Here's my recap. KFC. Minimum wage workers. Long queue. Night time. Ciken finis. Kastemer anggeri. Kastemer shout (?). Worker responds. Shout some more. Worker came out from behind the counter and punched kastemer in the face. Shout some more. Ah, malas lah recap (padahal dah habis recap pun). This is what I am talking about.

As per normal in Malaysia, APA-APA HAL sekalipun, kalau ada terkena-mengena dua kaum berbeza, mesti ada yang sedikit shallow melabel isu tersebut sebagai isu perkauman. Akan ada yang judgmental dan cakap orang tu racist dan kita-perlu-memperjuangkan-maruah-bangsa-kita.

Sebenarnya, aku tak nak 'kupas' pasal isu ni dari perspektif itu. I believe there are two sides to a story. So far, we have heard the kastemer's side. I have a strong hunch that the KFC guy(s) will not have his (their) 15 minutes, not because they don't wanna share their story, but if KFC hires any sort of PR or communication unit worth their salt, a gag order on the worker is probably in place, in accordance with Crisis Management 101. KFC will (and should?) assume responsibility and apologise and let the vouchers the kastemer wanted to redeem to still be usable even after the vouchers have passed their expiry date (oh, didn't you know? The customer wanted to redeem some vouchers that was expiring on that particular date. No wonderlah sentap ciken finis. Kire burnlah voucher diorang tu kalau tak dapat ciken malam tu jugak -___-). Oh, tapi mungkin tak guna jugak, sebab kastemer tersebut sudah 'emotionally distressed' dan mahu menyaman KFC. Oh well.

Thing is, we hear a lot of  'budak KFC tu kena provoke.' This is here-say. Unless there's another video floating around showing what happened prior to the fist fight. Unless we can find the smug-faced guy in the blue t-shirt or the Mat Saleh or any other patrons in the i-City KFC that night who can give the down-low of what happened, we won't know for sure. Even then, diorang boleh tipu kata diorang ada kat situ sedangkan saja je, nak jugak tumpang 15 minit tersebut.

Kembali kepada 'tapi, budak KFC tu kena provoke, customer tu maki hamun family budak tu.' Now, let me be clear (and be a parent). A fist fight is not gonna solve anything, son. Aku faham, emosi (dan syaiton) mungkin menguasai budak tu. Tak termasuk penat ngadap ayam (boleh tahan lagi) dan orang  (yang INI hehehe, Allahu'alam) satu hari. Tak termasuk faktor-faktor lain yang mungkin ada di sekeliling mamat tu. But I am telling you this. Violence is never the answer. 

Aku tahu, easier said than done. Kalau aku dalam situation tu pun, tak tentu lagi aku tak react dengan cara yang sama. So, it is with a heavy heart that I must say, budak KFC tu sepatutnya, personally, minta maaf. Gag order or not. Kalau betullah customer tu maki hamun keluarga awak, then that stands as a bigger reason for you to apologise. I mean, you don't want what the customer allegedly say about your family turn out to be true, right? Be the bigger person. Be a better man. Minta maaf. It won't solve anything, I know, dan customer tu mungkin akan terus dengan keputusan beliau untuk menyaman anda dan KFC but believe me when I say yang meminta maaf tu bukan untuk customer tu, meminta maaf ni untuk diri awak sendiri. 

Minta maaf di sini bukanlah admission of fault or guilt. Apologies are not about whose fault it is or feelings of guilt. Apologies is actually about moving on. Like it or not, we're humans and guess what? We make mistakes. Some mistakes are costlier than other. Some mistakes are sillier. Some mistakes are... well, you get the idea. Thing is, apologies are not about making things right, even. Apologies are about acknowledging our flaws and being responsible about it. Apologies is about moving on by learning from the mistakes we've made. Dalam kes ni, like I said earlier, I doubt it will deter any 'legal' actions that are probably already underway. Apologies might even be damaging (financially and even physically, in cases where the other party wants to exact revenge). But what it takes away in cash and in terms of physical harm, it gives and molds into character (<;-- Ini, anak-anak, baru cliche namanya. Learn while there's still time, you fools!)

Thing is here, aku sebenarnya kesian kepada frontliners. Kepada orang yang perlu deal dengan customers face to face. You think your desk job is hard? Imagine having to deal with hundreds of people day in and day out. Hubs kerja frontline and it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly dense some people can be. True story. Pernah ada DUA kes assault di tempat kerja hubs (yang dia pernah ceritalah). Not by the staff. So far, staff tempat kerja hubs belum pernah assault customer (that we know of). Salah satu kes assault ni, melibatkan staff (perempuan) yang kena tampar oleh seorang customer (lelaki) bilamana staff tersebut meminta customer mengembalikan sesuatu yang customer perlu letak balik kat tempat sepatutnya. Fact 1: Sesuatu tu memang diketahui PERLU dikembalikan ke tempat sepatutnya. Fact 2: 'Tempat sepatutnya' cuma beberapa depa daripada customer sahaja, customer tidak perlu ke Felda Taib Andak atau Kerteh untuk mengembalikan 'sesuatu' tersebut. Campak pun boleh. 

Jadi kenapa tampar? Entahlah. Food for thought kan? Apalah yang customer tu fikirkan agaknya? Emosi? Syaiton? External factors? Tapi kita jarang sekali dengar cerita seperti apa yang staff tadi alami. Kan? Pernah dengar cerita Call Centre Exec kena maki bila diorang call client? (ni akulah yang buat. Bukan maki, tapi aku pernah marah sorang mamat telecentre ni. Dia carik laki aku, aku cakap, laki aku kerja retail hours, malam tu balik pukul 12. Yes, mamat telecentre tu call nombor phone RUMAH pada MALAM hari. You know what he said bila aku cakap hubs habis kerja pukul 12 malam? "Eh ye ke, Puan? Mana ada orang habis kerja pukul 12 malam..." Logik tak kalau aku amukan puaka di situ?)

Okay, dah cukup, aku dah banyak cakap dan digress. In short, I just wanna say that in reality, there are horror story from both sides, in this incident, in many incidents before and even after this one. Capiche?

Hijrah Resolution

The list. OMG. I am making a list for 2012. Not so much the whole 'new-year-resolution' and all that, and you should now that I started this list way before December 2011. I think this simple list is just a reminder for me, of the things that I should focus on more (not 'achieve', achieve is an overrated word in this sense) this year and the years to come.

Yeah, yeah, lambat sangat buat list, ni dah masuk bulan February 2012, bla bla bla, yadda yadda yadda. So what? List aku kan? Target aku kan? Suka hati akulah nak start bila and nak end bila (eh, napa tiba-tiba sentap entah).  

So here it goes...

1. To be more involved in Little Miss' school work

I was involved, like, the night before her exam. Seriously. I am teaching my 7-year-old how to study last minute. How to burn the midnight oil. How to cram. Amazingly, she got number 1 in her class last year (proud mummy, sniffs) and she's now moved up one class for Standard 2. Understably, the competition is stiffer (like any Standard 2 class in any primary school in the whole wide world should be *___*) so being a kiasu mummy, I will make sure that Little Princess will spend at least 4 hours a day studying for her end of year exams. 

OH. MY. GOD. 

Yeah right.

I can't do that, can I? I can't, in good conscience, let my child go through all that. Hantar tuisyen? Paksa buat latih-tubi ala Kumon? It goes against all the rules I set out as being a parent (ceh, macam lah ada black and white set of rules pun, selama hari ni aku pakai formula redah je pun...). 

But one thing for sure, I want to be more involved in her learning process. I will try to enrich her learning experience. And so, to this end, 1433H/2012 will see more of:

• Trips to Petrosains
• Trips to Pusat Sains
• Trips to Planetarium Negara
• Trips to Zoo Negara
• Trips to Muzium Negara

I am also contemplating enrolling Little Miss in Math/Science classes, not the kind where you listen to lectures, but the kinds where she gets to do the experiments on her own. But so far, the ones I've come across quite the bomb, so we'll see about that. Susah-susah, aku google je, pastu carik tutorial via youtube and just have it DIY-style at home. Welcome to 21st Century parenting, yo!

2. To teach my kids how to ride a bicycle

Little Miss is 7. Little Hero will be 4 in February. Little Miss have yet to learn how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. Little Hero rides his cousin's hand-me-down Zebra Little Tykes rider-thingie. I don't want my kids to be fat, bratty kids who cannot even ride a bike. Come on lah, nama pun duduk kampung (walaupun tak berapa nak kampung). Takkan tak pandai naik basikal?

Ironically, this (hmmm.. apa ye? point ke? resolution ke? ape?) activity is actually also for me. Teach my kids to ride a bike = me being more active = me losing weight. Huhu. tak sah new year resolution kalau tak de lose weight somewhere in the mix. Cliche, I know, but dammit, I do wanna lose some!

3. To travel to 2 more SEA destinations

Before getting married, I had this grand idea of backpacking through SEA. How hubs and I would take train rides and boat rides to explore our neighbouring countries. I only get to visit a handful of them. Sedih. Been to Medan a twices ages ago. 2010 off to Vietnam. 2011 was Thailand's turn. So for 2012, I am aiming for Singapore (been there, but AAAAGES ago) and maybe, Cambodia? Or the Philippines? Singapore's a definite, the rest is still unwritten. 

4. To introduce ABC and 123 to Little Hero

As I mentioned before, Little Hero will be 4 soon. He's yet to hafal his ABCs and 123s (*gasps*). Actually, he does know the numbers at least, because he knows (as in, can say out loud) the numbers of the TV channels he's changing to. For example, I'll be watching Law and Order: SVU, he'll come scurrying into the room, grabbed the remote and say, "Umar nak tengok... anam... satu... three" while pressing the remote. The right numbers with the right sequence. Maknanya dia tahulah nombornya, just that dia malas nak kira bila-bila mama dia suruh dia kira 123. 

Okay, so this year, I want him to be able to relate that one = *, two = ** etc. Tahu nombor dan tahu bilangan adalah dua benda berbeza. And I think I'll also introduce him to colours, since he seems to really love colouring. 

some of you might go, eh, dah empat tahun baru nak introduce number, letters and colours? Well, I am not gonna lie. Sebelum ni, whatever concept of numbers or letters and names of colours that my kids learnt are all learned from thei daily interactions. I have never sat them down in a teaching and learning session, lepas tu tunjuk flash cards one after the other of "F for Frog" and "G for Gargamel."

Click for image source

Seriously, that's the first example I can think of when I think of words starting with G. Sadis. What kind of a mom am I?

Yes, please berate me all you want, because I didn't start teaching my kids the alphabets since they were 1 month old. Yes, I am a borderline negligent parent for not exposing my kids to all these early childhood education thingie-majiggie. Thing is, I believe kids should learn from playing. And even then, learning should not be the main outcome of their play sessions. Kalau belajar, it's great, kalau tak, then it's still great, cos they're just playing. 

So okay, enough with the ranting. Umar, pas ni kena belajar ABC, okay? Kenapa? Saja, sebab Mama nak dengar Umar nyanyi... ;)

--

Okay, that's it for now. Maybe I'll go through with all of them, maybe I'll follow through only one of them, maybe I won't go out and do ANY of them. But one thing's for sure, I will TRY.

Wish me luck, and please doa for me as well.

The Worst Clinic Visit EVER!

Little Hero was unwell. He's been having fever on and off since the past 2 weeks. The other night, he coughed so bad that he threw up his dinner. He has mild asthma (thanks to his Papa) but he wasn't wheezing or anything like that. Yesterday, hubs was on leave, so he was home the whole day. Hubs said that Little Hero was practically sleeping the whole day. Lethargic. Was not his usual playful self.

I got home and decided to take both Littles to the clinic, since Little Miss also has a cough on and off.

Since the new year, my company has changed our insurance carrier. We are now under ING Insure (or something). Unfortunately, the clinic we usually go to does not take the ING card. Sadness. So we had to go to another clinic, namely Klinik Idzham to see the doctor and take the meds. Major Sadness.

I don't like Klinik Idzham. It's usually full. It gives lame-o meds. It has some of the shittiest doctors I have ever had the misfortune to meet (one time, I had a 39 degrees celcius fever - I know 'cos I stole a peek at the doc's thermometer, but  she didn't give me an MC. Reason being, 'Your type of fever will go down soon, you can go to the office later, I kasi you timeslip je, okay?'). I went on EL that day. 

Anyways, we (as in hubs and I) decided against our better judgment and went to Klinik Idzham anyways because a) it's the nearest and b) it's been ages since we been there, surely they've bucked up. SURELY.

Image source

YEAH RIGHT. FAT CHANCE.

First off, coming in, I saw about 20 or so people in the clinic. Okay, so this is Malaysia, I thought, and that is kinda expected. [APA? Mak nak pegi Giant beli groceries? SEMUA ORANG NAK IKUT, termasuk tok, nenek, bibik, pak teh, mak teh, pak anjang dan Comel the cat. SEMUA, okay?] Doesn't matter that it's only ONE child who's sick, most parents here think it's okay to haul their WHOLE healthy line of offsprings to a place where germs and all sorts of icky illnesses are all around (it's a friggin clinic, people! And you wonder why your third daughter is now coughing as well? AND have a fever? AND have those rashes?)

But I was still like, okay, tak pe, pergi je kat kaunter. The nurse at the counter was nice enough albeit a bit confused

Nurse: Puan pernah datang?
Me: Pernah. Tapi dulu under PM Care
Nurse: Oh, sekarang dah tukar?
Me: Yes, company tukar insurance carrier.
Nurse: Oh... tukar career.
Me: *holds breath* *bites tongue*
Nurse: Tapi nama Umar (Little Hero) ni dulu, lain ke?
Me: (Was about to say, 'I haven't changed my son's name yet so whatchu talkin about fu?')[In reality, looks over to her computer monitor] His second name is spelled with 2 As.
Nurse: (Sheepish) Oh, a'ah

Okay fine, sesudahnya drama di kaunter tersebut, maka duduklah kami anak-beranak di kerusi menunggu. It was only then that I glanced at my number, as in angka giliran berjumpa doctor. It's 2112, and the patient the doctor is seeing right now is only number 2101. Okay, so ada dalam 11 orang lagi, roughly 20 minutes per person, I have almost 2 hours to wait for my turn. Oka.... WHATTTT??? TIGA JAM? Klinik ni hire specialist ke ape kena tunggu lama tu? But still, I gave them benefit of the doubt, and thought that maybe the doctor can speed things up with patients like; "Patient: Doktor, saya rasa saya selsema lah. Doktor: Nah, amik piriton, main jauh-jauh." BUT NO.... I have to hand it to the doctor. That night, she was the consummate professional and saw each one of the 11 patients before us for no less than 20 minutes. Melanguk aku tunggu tak de apa nak buat.

But, that's still okay. Because bored as I may be and sick as the Littles may be, at least ada TV. Dan walaupun TV tu tunjuk cerita Nilapura yang aku tak pernah tengok/dengar selama hari ni, aku boleh follow gak la... Episod malam tersebut mengisahkan ada sorang mamat kena bunuh dek bapak dia yang gila kuasa nak jadi raja pastu bapak dia kata kat anak perempuan dia (bini anak dia yang dia bunuh tu) yang suami dia kena baham dek rimau. Anak perempuan dia tengah ngandung, pastu masa tu, anak perempuan dia tengah jahit-jahit baju baby (Oh ya, Nilapura ni cerita jaman dahulu kala tau, jadi semua old-fashioned lah kononnya, ala-ala Laksamana Do Re Mi etc). Pastu sebenarnya suami tu tak mati pun, dia diselamatkan oleh seorang disfigured mysterious figure, dum dum dummmm (music horror sendiri buat). Kesimpulan cerita, cerita bengong tah kenapa dapat slot prime time, Kak Jah pun tak tahu. APA PUN TAK BOLEH.

Baiklah, mari kembali ke cerita asal. 

Dah lah aku kena tunggu lama. Pastu ramai orang. Pastu cerita ntah apa-apa, BUT the worst is yet to come. Sepanjang kehidupan aku sebagai orang dan jugak mak orang, inilah pengalaman ke klinik yang paling teruk pernah aku lalui. You know what was the worst part? Not too long after we got in, registered and all that, in came these two guys carrying these drills. You know what they were about to do? THEY WERE ABOUT TO DRILL HOLES IN THE FRIGGIN CLINIC (oooo, big surprise, I know, what else would you be doing if you walked into a clinic with a drill, right?) Whaddafak weiiii? BISING and BINGIT and OMG!!! I cannot even begin to describe the ordeal. Dahlah anak-anak sakit, merengek tak selesa. Dengan penat tunggu turn. Dengan ramai orang lalu lalang. Dengan terpaksa tengok cerita bodoh Nilapura tu kat TV sebab remote tak de kat aku! TAMBAH LAGI SATU MASALAH, drill tengah-tengah keributan tu.

I mean, come on lah. Drill tu soal hidup dan mati ke? Pentadbir klinik tu tak boleh nak kenalpasti ke, which day and which hour that they have the least amount of patients? Aku tahulah klinik kau tu laku, tapi agak-agaklah der, aku jotos kau nanti baru kau tahu. COME ON LAH. Orang sakit makin jadi sakit tahu tak?

Okay, so some of you might wonder, kenapa tak walk out aje? Kenapa tak keluar je dari klinik tu? Bukan bayar pun kan? The thing is, by that time (by the time they started drilling and all), patient #2109 was up, so that means our turn was not that far away. Plus we've waited so long already! Tapi sementara nak tunggu turun kitorang tu, HAZAB lah kan.

So now, needless to say, I will never, unless under extreme emergency or circumstances, EVER, go to Klinik Idzham lagi.

extra prescription. Anybody knows any good clinic area Gombak yang carry ING Insurance?

additional prescription. Doctor kasi anak-anak aku antibiotik, sebab dia kata dah lama sangat batuk. Aku tak kasi pun antibiotik tu kat the Littles. Heh. MOTHER KNOWS BEST. Pastu Little Hero dapat ubat batuk (asthma - 'thanks' Papa! ) + demam as well and Little Miss dapat ubat batuk (non-asthma). Ubat bongok2. AKU MARAH. Pernah nampak naga taip blog?

extra-additional prescription. Did I mention that we only saw the doctor for less than 15 minutes? HARAMJADAH!!!

Ombak Rindu vs. Bicara Hati

Ini. Sangat. Tidak. Sihat.

SANGAT. TIDAK. SIHAT.

I am reading, of all things, a Malay romance novel.

No, I am not reading the now overrated Ombak Rindu. I am reading Bicara Hati by a writer called Damia Hana. This novel will soon have its TV adaptation broadcasted over Astro.

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I don't normally read Malay romance novels. I am not a snob, bukan aku cakap aku tak baca novel-novel Melayu sebab low-class ke ape. I do read Malay novels, just not from the romance variety, sebab aku suka baca novel atau buku yang mana ayat-ayat dalam buku tu, adalah ayat-ayat yang ada kemungkinan keluar dari mulut aku, nak-nak kalau ayat tu dialog dalam watak novel tu. Believable stuff. Bukan benda-benda macam, "Aku dah cuba nak melupakan dia, tapi bayangannya tetap terus menghantuiku."

First of all, kalau ada apa-apa benda yang menghantui aku, in any shape or form, aku takkan habiskan masa berprosa pasal apa benda yang menghantui aku tu. Mungkin by that time aku dah tonggeng-tonggeng nangis depan Harun Din or is it Hasan Din (ustaz, tolonglah saya buang benda niiiiii... uwaaaaaaaaaaa *nanes golek-golek <-- ini hiperbola anak-anak!).

And second of all, I am just not like that yo.

So, kenapa aku baca novel Bicara Hati ni?

Well, actually, it has something to do with Ombak Rindu (and btw, I do think Aaron Aziz is rather dashing, kan? kan? kan? ;)). To be exact, it's actually very much related to the soundtrack of Ombak Rindu. Remember this entry? Well, I mentioned Ajek, who captured the attention the Ombak Rindu production team when he did a cover of the theme song of the movie. So aku pun dengarlah lagu tu. Sappy love songs are also not my usual music staple (Malay love songs? Pfffftttt... Pernah dengar Diana Krall nyanyi Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are? No disrespect an' all that, but Bruno's Just the Way You Are ain't got nothin on Billy Joel's yo'. Dan pada aku, ini baru love song). Okay, that was not the point of this entry kan? So anyways, lagu Ombak Rindu tu, Ajek punya pasal, mak layan aje nox. From the related videos there, link-punya-link-punya-link hopping, I came across this piece of news about a tele-series adapted from a novel called Bicara Hati. The director is Osman Ali, the same guy directing Ombak Rindu, so adalah crossline di situ sikit kot? Entah, aku pun tak pasti link apa yang aku click.

Yang buat aku, "Alamak, menariklah pulak," ialah apabila aku nengok gambar-gambar shoot Bicara Hati tu, ada gambar sorang minah yang muka dia familiar sangat-sangat. I was racking my brain tryinna figure out where I've seen this girl before. Then, tiba-tiba it hit me. This is her:



Source

Minah ini rupanya! Zara iklan raya Diva Universal yang comel nak mampus tu. The Zara character itself is very comel. Redza Minhat pun comel. Iklan tu pun comel. Eh, semua comel lah! SAYA SUKA!

(SIDE NOTE: Her (Zara, Zahlia, Puteri Ape Benda Ntah lam Bicara Hati) name (or at least the name she puts on her Facebook) is Cristina Suzanne Stockstill but apparently she goes with the 'stage' name, Kris Cempaka)

Berikut ialah bukti kecomelan iklan raya tersebut:

So now, because this feel-good, comel advertisement, I am hooked on a Malay romance novel, by the name of Bicara Hati of all things. Let me reiterate. INI. SANGAT. TIDAK. SIHAT. Okaylah, baca novel tu tak semestinya tengok drama tu bila drama bersiri Bicara Hati tersebut ke udara bermula pada Selasa, 9.00 malam, 3 Januari 2012 di Saluran 105, Astro Prima (motip aku tulis cam ni???). TAPI, I also kinda think Sharnaaz Ahmad, who plays the male lead, is very the comel jugak. And this is also TIDAK SIHAT. He is 3 years younger than me. And that makes me kinda feel like a cougar.

HAMAGADDD!!!

-__-"

Do not disturb my Tuesday nights in early 2012, okay?

extra presciption. Sampai la cheq tak pi lagi tengok Ombak Rindu. Tunggu Youtube je laa, bulih ka?

extra, extra prescription. I also don't usually like lelaki-lelaki comel atau jambu, but in Sharnaaz's case, I will make an exception. Redza Minhat comel, tapi dia tak jambu, so clause aku-tak-suka-lelaki-comel-dan-jambu dengan sendirinya terbatal di situ. Eh, berapa umur Redza Minhat wei? Adakah, aku akan jadi cougar lagi! HAMAGAD!!!.

extra, extra, extra prescription. Am I going to hell for this, God?

Kids, Magic and Harry Potter

The best times of my life these days seems to be those that I spent being silly with these two kids who call me Mama. We watch TV most of the time, last night it was Despicable Me. Tonight it's a marathon of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and now, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I swear Lil Hero was slightly buzzing calling out for his big sis who left the room for a bit as Harry Potter was starting... And oh yeah, I have introduced Harry Potter to my kids, who are 7 and 3 respectively. Lil Hero, who is 3, can recognise the Harry Potter theme at the first few notes. Lil Miss, who's 7, can name 2/3 of the characters in the movies. I will introduce the book soon to her, I hope. Ah, now back to the magical world of Harry Potter with the kids.

Internet Explorer NOT FTW!

Remember this post? Yeah, it's basically how I'm ranting about having to use IE to blog nowadays, if I happen to blog at work, which in hindsight, rarely happens pun.

TAPI, walaupun sekali-sekala, walaupun kaddang-kaddang (baca nada P.Ramlee dalam Nujum Pak Belalang), aku still rasa tak comfortable pakai IE. Sebab macam terencat aje. Aku pun tak paham macam mana ramai je manusia lain yang aku tengok selamba kodok pakai IE dok surf sana sini.

So now, I've installed yet another browser in my PC, Safari, yang jugak aku tak berapa minat sebenarnya. But thing is, anything is soooo better than IE lah. ANYTHING.

But please don't call me an Apple fanboi. I will cut you if you do.

Okay, itu sahaja update hari ini.

ps. I just realized Flock is now defunct. Heh.

Best of the Web #001 - Ajek Hassan

I LOVE THIS GUY. The voice! OH. MY. GOD. The voice.

Apparently, Ajek has gotten the attention of some Malaysian movie maker (or rather their social media (Facebook) team) when he posted his acoustic version of the movie Ombak Rindu theme song. Personally, I don't really like the song, but other stuff this guy has done is PURE GOLD.

His Bryan Adams' covers are TO DIE FOR. Uhsum! Uhsum! Uhsum!

And he also has a plethora of rock kapak covers like the one embedded above (which happens to be one of my favourite songs ever!) that are just sing-a-long-able.

I don't know an awful lot about him. From random comments on his Facebook page and Youtube channels, I gathered that he's already married and hails from Terengganu. From his Facebook fanpage, his current location is in Australia where he has a cafe of some sort with his brother.

Okay, I am off to enjoy more of Ajek Hassan's songs and voice and uhsumness.

Toodles!

Internet Explorer FTW!

Tahu tak sekarang ni aku berblog menggunakan Internet Explorer? Sadis tak? I'm so two-thousand-eight, you're so two-thousand-late...

Don't be hatin Internet Explorer, y'all. Walaupun, truth be told, aku tak suka guna IE. Guna pun sebab terpaksa. Mengapa terpaksa?

Well, the place where I work uses Gmail accounts as our work email account, so FF aku dah guna untuk satu ID Google, iaitu, work ID.

I have also installed my much beloved Chrome in this PC as well, but that one is used for R&D purposes, whereby I am developing a work-related blog, so I have to use another work-related ID to sign in to Google on my Chrome browser.

So, that leaves me with IE to basically type the odd entry sekali-sekala bila ada waktu senggang time kerja atau bila nak stalk blog orang dan leave comments with this ID. Tapi kat rumah aku pakailah sama ada FF atau Chrome.

Sadis.

Dulu, guna FF boleh guna dua ID. I can log in to my work email account and also log in to iGoogle using my personal account, tapi recently, company tukar structure work Google account membuatkan ia kini jadi all-in-one. And horror of horrors, even Google+ pun boleh diintegrate sama.

LAGI SADIS.

Green Green Grass by the River

Ah! Tacky gila lah! 

Apa yang tacky? Tak la, aku kan dah lama tak post apa-apa, so aku nak buat macam opening, "Ni hao! Hao jiu bu jian!" (Translate: Hai! Lama tak jumpa!). Pastu aku padam. Sebab tacky. Dan corny. And if there's one thing I'm NOT is tacky. Or corny.

Anyways. Yeah, the hiatus. Oh well, shit's been hitting the fan at work lately, and me being my usual procrastinating, malas self, did not prioritize this blog. Sorry.

So what made me come back then? Saja. Been missing the medium, maybe? Or... memang penyakit aku ni ada tenggelam timbul. Sekejap aku tenggelam. Sok lusa aku timbul balik.

Ok, now, I don't want any pointless entry. So let's get to the meat of today's ramblings, shall we?

Lately, a lot of 'questionable' things are happening around me. More so than the usual fair of weirdness I am confronted with. I am talking about questionable on the morality side. A lot of stories of extramarital affairs, backstabbing, badmouthing etc is been going on, and since I am a flawed human being, aku pun join menjoyah (mesti ada yang cakap, yelah, perempuan, tak de kerja lain lettew). Oh well, Wallahualam. I try, actually, I try very, very hard. So maybe next time, I will try harder. Doakan sekali?  

And this thing too has its ups and downs. Sebab if I recall correctly, awal tahun memang rancak cerita itu ini begitu begini. Then it died down. Then recently, these things come cropping up again. This time around tak de la sehebat the earlier rounds of rumours. But jyeah, ada lagi saki-baki cerita-ceriti Kak Joyah, Kak Nam dan yang sewaktu dengannya.

I dunno what's gonna happen. And the speculations of what's gonna happen are far from rosy. Things are getting from bad to worst, and I guess people (myself included) are just reacting to the bad modjo flying around. This is no longer a healthy situation to be in, but sadly, the answer is not as crystal clear as I'd like it to be. Aku rasa nak cari team captain baru (okay, inside term, perhaps in due time, I will explain, tapi memandangkan ini melibatkan kerjaya, I will refrain from getting into too much details just yet), tapi ada banyak benda yang aku sayang kat sini. Job scope. People. Immediate boss. Team. Environment. Tapi adalah dua, tiga ketul tahi yang stinking up the whole place so much so the stench is unbearable!

And yes, I know I am not making sense. Cerita atau entry ni tiada pembukaan, kandungan dan penutup. It sucks to be stuck in this funk, trust me.

An Open Letter to J.K. Rowling

Dear Ms. Rowling, 

First of all, let me tell you that I love you. I know millions of your fan around the globe profess their love for you all the time, in different, more special kind of way, but I still want you to know that I love you. 

I love you for the fact that you created this wonderful, bespectacled, orphaned wizard by the name of Harry Potter and how through your stories about him, you have made him as real as any human walking this earth can be. Harry is not perfect, your books are not perfect, but that's okay. That's part of the appeal, the fact that among all the imperfections, there is still something worth loving, worth looking out for, worth looking forward to.

Ms. Rowling, I understand from stories that the conditions under which you wrote your stories were far from ideal. They were dark times indeed. But you had that story in your head (and perhaps, more importantly, in your heart) and you managed to tell it in spite of all your hardships. Ms. Rowling, please know that a lot of us read your stories under similar, desolate situation. I know a friend who lost her parents when she was still very young, and your stories were probably the only ones there for her when life as she knew it fell apart. And me, Ms. Rowling, I read a few of your books when I was going through some of the darkest times in my life and Harry, Ron and Hermione were always there for me. Please know Ms. Rowling, that those words you string together struck a chord deep in my heart. I hate to be ungrateful to others who there for me during my difficult time and say that Harry alone pulled me out of my depression and suicidal tendencies, but he was there and I can certainly feel his firm grasp on my slipping grip on reality.

Funny, isn't it, how a work of fiction can be so real to so many? Deep inside, we know Harry is a fictional character, but he is one that we can relate to, one representing love, faith, hope and courage and at the end of the day, Ms. Rowling, those are perhaps the single string of commonality that we have among us human. Maybe that's why Harry has managed to transcend the many barriers we have erected among us.

Thank you again, Ms. Rowling. For Harry and his friends and his stories. And thank you for telling them to us.

Much Love,
A fan.

ps. This was tearfully written after I finished reading Hallows ages ago, while pregnant with Lil Hero. The entry has been in my drafts folder for ages, and I kinda dug it up again after watching Hallows Pt. II. I decided to just publish this since even after sometime, the things I wrote still struck a chord deep within me (btw, that's one of the ways I evaluate my writing, does it still stir up the same emotion I felt when writing if I read the piece after some time?) And judging by this entry, you can safely guess how I feel about J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and this entry. 

Framework Konon.... PAH!

Okay, I've thought about this for a bit. I am actually going through a bit of a writer's block (eh, samo plop dengang Meka...) so one of the 'exercises' I did was this association thing, where I come up with one totally random phrase or word, and just come up with things that relate to that phrase or word or whatever. 

So somehow, I kinda diverted my 'association exercise' into blog topics, things that I can talk about in this blog. Originally, I just wrote 'what's in my head' in the middle of an A4 paper, and tried to expand on that, but seeing that my head and all its brilliance is pretty blocked at the mo, my head decided not to cooperate. I am left looking at the A4 paper pretty stupidly with the unfinished mind-map of "What's in My Head" in the center. Sorry Tony. 

Source

So then, I somehow digressed a bit more and thought, since there's nothing in my head (maybe the aliens have sucked out my brains or something), why not just expand "What's in..." haaaaa, that question, I tell you, tiba-tiba banyak idea mencurah-curah. Actually, not that many ideas lah, tapi adalah sampai 10 benda I can list down, as per the following list:

What's in....

1. Your head?
2. Your heart?
3. Your purse/wallet?
4. Your handbag/manbag/backpack?
5. Your office drawers? 
6. Your wardrobe? (lemari baju lah, kang ada plak yang cakap, sejak bila kau  ada wardrobe)
7. Your PC and/or external harddisk and assorted memory flash drive/disk? 
8. Your car?
9. Your memory box?
10. Your blog?

So now, I have somewhat of a framework of things to write when I stumble upon another of this infamous writer's block. Question now is, tajuk dah ada, content? 

Bwahahahaha... bongok. Looks like we're back at square one.

ps. Please forgive the author/blogger. She just came back from a week long vacation, and she still haven't adjusted to the fact that SHE HAS TO WORK, DAMMIT!

Sunday Ritual (No More)

Source

Aku tak paham.. Tiap-tiap hujung minggu Mak aku mesti beli Berita Mingguan ngan Utusan Mingguan. Dah berapa minggu dah ni, cerita yang sama keluar, cerita cinta tiga segi Mamat Sepah-Fida-Adda. Minggu satu, keluar kenyataan si polan, gitu gini. Minggu depannya, kuar statement si hamba Allah tu pulak, counter yang si polan cakap. Minggu ni keluar statement si polan counter si hamba Allah. My question is, perlu ke?

Okay, so you all can say, if you're this angry about it, why read it at all? Actually aku pun tak pasti kenapa aku baca. Actually bukan baca sangatlah, more like skim the headlines, tapi aku sentap, sebab weekend paper reading ni jadi ritual hidup aku sejak aku kecil lagi. I read page after page, almost each and every word (sometimes ads are even included, I was that sangap), sebab when it comes to newspapers, aku ngan mak aku serupa, kalau dah lambat (around noonish), baik tak payah baca dah paper tu. Hari biasa of course dulu-dulu aku sekolah and nowadays, kerja, celah mana aku nak baca paper pagi-pagi. So weekend je la yang dapat jadi spot aku teruskan ritual aku...

You see where I'm going with this?

Ni belum masuk cerita wedding sponsor tu lagi. Come on lah, perlu ke cover macam tu sekali? I can feel my brain cells dying just by looking at their pictures, belum lagi aku baca cerita-ceriti yang disempilkan.

Okay, dah, dah, tak payah lah baca... Masalahnya, tak baca pun aku still nampak, and remember the ritual I so cherish my whole life? That ritual is now has to be replaced with another one, I guess... Takkan aku nak keep on doing something yang membunuh brain cells aku?

Can anybody suggest an equally fulfilling and mentally-challenging Sunday ritual?

A More Loving Place

Aku ni dah la emo tak tentu hala (mungkin PMS) dua tiga menjak ni, dengan busy tahap dewa dewi langit ketujuh kejar deadline lagi, dengan baju raya anak2 yang tak siap jahit lagi, dengan kuih yang dah buat tapi belum raya dah nak abis lagi, dalam-dalam aku ingat nak gelak2, aku jenguk blog brader Hazrey ni. And guess what's the latest post that he has? It's about three very, very young siblings who were murdered by their father.

I instantly cried.

It is important to note that my cubicle is very much hidden from the rest of the office and I will see people approaching my area long before they are at my area. So memang kegiatan nangis-nangis tengok video sedih, baca cerita sedih (macam story "Mana Mak?" yang dicirculate macam gila akhir-akhir ni) etc, adalah terlindung. In fact, kalau aku makan masa tak puasa pun terselindung lagi. But that's not the point of this entry.

The point is those three kids. They were two, three and five year old.

Little Hero is three, so there's an instant image that I can project in my mind, when imagining the horrifying last breaths of those children. How scared were they. How none of them could've understood what was going on. Apa sangat yang diorang tahu?

I'd like to think that ar-Rahman was there protecting them that day, was there in some form or way to comfort them, to ease their passing, tapi sebagai seorang emak, sebagai seorang manusia, hati aku merintih sedih. Mata aku menangis for those unnamed children. Pada aku, mereka juga anak-anak aku.

But it's okay babies, you are in a much better place, in a much, much more loving place. A place where you deserve to be. I am so sorry that the adults around you failed you. I am so, so sorry that we failed you, angels. Rest in peace, loves.

Next Time

The next time we think, "Ish, aku tak tahu nak buka apa hari ni,", think of them. And be thankful for whatever little that we have, because THERE ARE people who are WITHOUT any.

The next time our children throw away the food they didn't finish, tell them about these children. And tell them that the scraps they throw away is practically a king's lavish dinner (and breakfast and lunch, probably) in those childrens' eyes (and stomachs).

And the next time you think about our brothers and sisters in humanity and in Islam, send a little prayer of hope their way.

We've gone without food 8 to 10 hours a day. Diorang?

Hasbunallah wa ni' mal wakeel.

Hantu Susu

Click image for source (and to download, I think)

Actually, I caught an ad of this show on the TV. It had Erra Fazira in it, and she said something along the lines of, "Itulah, lain kali, kalau nak jadi hantu, jadilah hantu yang popular macam pontianak..." Erra Fazira, btw, played a pontianak in both this telemovie and another one, Pontianak Kampung Batu ke ape ntah. But the ad caught my attention, and I thought it was funny, so much so that I took note of the broadcast date and told myself, "Nak tengoklah..."

Alas, other priorities (like life, kids, family time etc) took me away from the hantus on TV that day.

When I came to work, a few of my co-workers were talking about the show. Akkkk, imagine my dismay. Well, not wanting to be left out, I took to the internet and searched for the show on youtube, managed to find it, finding out I had no time to watch the 90 minutes ++ it ran, downloading it via KeepVid and resolving to watch it some other day.

That was about two weeks ago. Sedih kan? Such is the life of a working mom... (not complainin', just sayin')

Fast forward yesterday evening. I found out that, lo and behold, I do have like, 90 minutes ++ to spare. Hmmm, what should I do? Should I potong kain baju raya kakak orrr... orrr... should I watch the show I have saved on my external harddisk and just have a laugh out loud session?

Love you to bits, Little Princess, but for today, Mama chose to LOL. (Alah, raya lambat lagi lah... esok2 sempat wei potong kain... potong kain semalam pun bukan bleh terus jahit, kan? Kan? Kan???)

So anyways, the telemovie is about this four hantus, Erra Fazira a.k.a Tira the Pontianak, Amy Mastura a.k.a Suri the Penanggal, Zarina AF a.k.a Jamilah the Langsuir and Marsha AF a.k.a Mawar the Hantu Kum Kum. They somehow gravitated towards this kampung and somehow became housemates in this old bungalow.

At the same time, there's a Hantu Susu on the lose in the same kampung, wreaking havoc by killing people (sucking their life out, ala Harry Potter's Dementors) and then feeding the murdered bottled milk.

Tension rise as the kampung people start to suspect that the four new addition to their kampung are the ones committing these crimes, but are they the ones to blame?

Overall, the show was not bad. Funny at times, laugh out loud funny, but there are also times when I went, meh. Amy Mastura was the comic relief, and she carried the task quite well. She was funny and bengong at the same time. Erra Fazira was quite awesome as Tira, I never realized she could do funny. Marsha was also great to watch, she was, by far, the most mysterious of the four. And Zarina totally surprised me. Although kayu at times, I think with the right direction and some extensive acting lessons, she does have the potential to do more.

Funny bits to me were basically when Suri and Tira couldn't resist to change into their hantu self. You see, all the hantus in this show was normal looking humans (prettier, but normal). But when temptation rises, these gals might just transform into their actual looks. So when the gals were taken to a house where a lady was about to give birth, Suri the penanggal (penanggal is said to live on the blood of mothers who just delivered, or something... I wanted to get the whole story from Mak, but was afraid I'll have to attend a full 50 minutes course of Penanggal 101) was the one tempted. Siap tercabut kepala penanggal tu, lepas tu tak boleh nak sambung balik. And her badan was like all over the place cos without a head, the body couldn't see.

There's also the part when Tira was the one tempted. Somehow, they were at this cooking class and a participant cut her finger with a knife. She wiped her blood with some kain or tissue or something, and Tira volunteered to throw it away, because she wanted to hisap the darah of course. But her friends, Mawar and Suri, talked her out of it.

Few things though, the SFX and CGI were horrendous. Like, why did you even bother??? Guna prop aje lagi real kot. And another thing, I dunno if it's just me, but Apek is so passé, please lah, the supporting pak lawak is funnier than him at times. If you wanna have this guy on, please have something meatier for him to bite into. And Didi Alias, haiz, why oh why lah... Half of the time, I'm not sure if she wants to melawak or be serious. I doubt that's the point the director is trying to put through, I think that's the kind of actor Didi is. Miscast, miscast... haiz...

Other than that, it was a fun watch. I'll give it, maybe a 3-star. Okay, now back to sewing and life as we know it...