Thursday, December 15, 2011

The waiting game...

It had been a long wait for us. Especially for Hasya.

From the day she came back from school all excited about the road show done by KYSM, all she could talk about was how great it would be if she got accepted to study at KYSM.

Frankly speaking, it never crossed our minds to send her for schooling there before that. Both of us were actually thinking of applying for her to go to an SBP - the nearer it is to home, the better. So, we were toying with the idea of applying for either SSP in Cyberjaya, or TKC in Seremban. My alma mater is out of the question. It's just too far.

But, when Hasya asked if she could just submit her application for Axiata scholarship for KYSM online, we just let her with the hope that she would be called to sit for the entrance exam under the Axiata group of candidates. Syukur Alhamdulillah, Hasya was shortlisted to sit for the exam, however, she was put under the fee-paying group of candidates. Given the opportunity to try out for a place, we decided that she should just go for it.

Apparently, there were more than 6,000 applications, and only 900 were called to sit for the exam. So, being amongst the 900 selected ones was quite a feat, we think. On the day of the entrance exam, the whole family went to Melaka to send and be with her for moral support ☺

In the mean time, while waiting for the result, Hasya suddenly had a change of heart, when one day she told me that she was having second thoughts about going to KYSM. And when I asked her why, she just said that she preferred to go to Sri Aman as all her close friends would be going there.

However, in the next few days, she kept on asking us how much would the fees be, and what would happen if she didn’t get any scholarship to go to KYSM. Apparently, those who were not put under the Axiata scholarship would still have the chance of being sponsored by a few other bodies. And Hasya was hoping that she would be considered for the scholarship.

From there, we could tell that deep inside she still really wanted to go to KYSM, but, she didn’t want us to spend so much on her fees and all should she get accepted. THAT is Hasya – one who always feels guilty if we spend anything on her. Everytime when she wants anything, she would check the price, and if she feels it is too expensive, or not worth the price, she would not get it.

Syukur alhamdulillah, a couple of weeks after that, we received a letter from the college stating that Hasya got through the exam and had been shortlisted to go for the next selection stage, i.e. the Resident Based Selection (RBS).

Apparently, out of the 900 candidates who sat for the exam, only 256 of them got through to the RBS stage. And that, to us was another amazing feat for Hasya.

For the RBS, the candidates were required to spend 4D3N at the college, and they were put through a few programs to assess their leadership skills, teamwork capabilities, sporting abilities and their other talents. They also sat for interviews whereby one of the things they had to do was to come up with solutions to hypothetical scenarios and settings to gauge their problem-solving capabilities. Hasya was even asked to perform the Asyik Dance during the interview, and syukur alhamdulillah, her traditional dance lessons under Teacher Dida all these years paid off!

The candidates were also required to perform in a musical on their last night there whereby their singing, dancing and acting skills were put to test. And with just 2 days given to come up with their own musical they were put under a lot of pressure to use their creative juices, and again to see how well they could work as a team under such pressure.

When Hasya came back after the RBS, all excited telling us about what they did over the 4 days, and how she did overall, Ayah and I were very impressed indeed, and we decided that even if she didn’t get any scholarships, we would still send her to KYSM. We could see just how much it meant to her if she was accepted to study there. When we were out getting the kids their rewards for their final exam results last week Hasya told us that she didn’t want anything. The best reward, she said, would be if she got the offer to go to KYSM.

The candidates who went for the RBS weekend had created an FB Group and they had been communicating with each other since they parted ways at the end of the RBS. Everybody was saying just how anxious they were waiting for the result, and I think that had made Hasya’s level of anxiety go up a few notches! Out of the 256 who went for the RBS, only 80 would make the final cut.

And last Saturday, the letters of offer started coming in and those who got the letters shared the good news with the rest of the group. As we had used our Sri Damansara address as our correspondence address in the application, I had to go back to our house to check the mail at 11:30am on that Saturday morning. There were no letters for Hasya. We went back again to check at 3:00pm. And we went yet back to Sri Damansara again that night. Three trips in a day to check if the letter of offer had come, and still there was no letter for Hasya. By that time, Hasya was already feeling dejected….

I tried consoling and reassuring her, saying that maybe the letter was taking a slightly longer time to reach Sri Damansara. And as it was posted using the Pos Laju, the postman might have not left it in the mailbox because there was nobody at home. But, deep inside, I was starting to fear for the worst… and I was starting to feel guilty.

Guilty – because a patient of Ayah’s had offered to help Hasya get in as he is a close friend of Tan Sri HS. But, after Ayah and I discussed, we decided to not use any cables at that stage, because if Hasya were to be selected, we wanted her to be selected based on her merits. If she is good enough for the college (and we were very confident that she would be selected), then she would make the final cut. Ayah’s patient was very surprised and he said to Ayah that MANY people would be using their cables to get their kids into KYSM, and he was worried that Hasya would be deprived of a place it that were to happen.

But, Ayah and I were very firm about the whole thing and we decided that there should not be any cable-pulling on our part at that stage. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be. If it was not meant to be, then, it was not meant to be. And we felt that we needed to know that if Hasya were to be selected, it was because of her own abilities and merits and nothing else. If we were to use our contacts to get her in, we would never ever know for sure. And I told Ayah, if we want to pull cables – maybe when Hasya is accepted and we need the scholarship, we could THEN maybe pull some cables.

That is the thing about us in the middle-class category. We are comfortable enough and we have a good figure income which does not qualify our kids for scholarships. But, at the same time we are not wealthy enough to afford good private education for our kids. And I think there are so many parents out there who are in the same predicament as us.

On Sunday morning, Ayah tried calling the college, and of course, the office was closed. Ayah only got to speak to the security guard on duty that morning. If he had his ways, Ayah would probably have asked the guard to go to the office and check the list for us! He tried calling the Director of Studies, Dr. Chia, and finally got through to him. But, as Dr Chia didn’t have all the data with him, he couldn’t confirm if Hasya was in the list of successful candidates or not, and he asked Ayah to call the office first thing on Monday morning.

That Sunday was the longest Sunday ever for us…

Monday morning finally came, and the first thing that Ayah did was to call the college. But, the news that we got was not the one we wanted to hear. Hasya’s name was not on the list of the successful candidates…

Both Ayah and I were speechless, and we just didn’t know how to break the news to Hasya. It was then that we felt that MAYBE we should have accepted Ayah’s contact’s offer to get Hasya in… 1001 things were playing in our hearts and minds…

Just how were we going to break the news to Hasya?

Ayah then called Dr Chia to ask if we could appeal. And Ayah told him, “If we didn’t think Hasya deserves a place in KYSM, we would not want to appeal. But, we know that she is qualified…Is there any way at all for us to appeal?”

And what Dr Chia said next was even more heart-shattering for us.

Apparently, Hasya had missed the placing by ONE spot. In Dr Chia’s own words - the competition was not tough. It was EXTREMELY tough. They were only looking for 7 girls for the fee-paying group, and Hasya was ranked #8. And because of that, Hasya had been placed first on the waiting list.

We don’t know if anybody had pulled cables at any stage. But, we know that IF they did, then Hasya might have been deprived of a place which rightfully should have been hers. We really don’t know, and we don’t want to speculate.

Dr Chia assured us, that if any one of the girls were to decline the offer, Hasya would be the first to be offered the place.

We didn’t have the heart to tell Hasya, and we were waiting for the right time to break the news gently to her.

As it was a public holiday for Selangor that day, Ayah decided to bring all of us for lunch and then brought the kids over to my office, where they waited until I finished work that day.

And it was while waiting for me in my personal office when Hasya suddenly called me (I was in my admin office then) and told me that she got news that one of her friends had been told that her friend was ranked #16 and had been put on the waiting list. And Hasya started begging us to call KYSM to find out her status.

I went back to my office. Ayah and I exchanged looks and we slowly brought Hasya to one corner, sat her down and told her what Dr Chia had told us that morning.

It was heartbreaking to see her, when she started to cry.

Those who know Hasya would know that she is one tough cookie. She does not cry. Period.

So, seeing her controlling her emotions at first until it was just too much to contain, made me want to cry and hug her. But seeing that she was trying not to shed a tear, I decided to just hold her hands.

The first thing that came out of her was, “Mommy, it’s just not fair…”

And the floodgate opened, and she started to cry. I started to cry. And we both hugged each other. At that moment, I wasn’t sure if I needed the hug more than she did, or if it was the other way round.

I had to explain to her how things work in the real world.

Firstly, that that would be one of many disappointments in life that she would have to face, and she had to be strong.

Secondly, I had to explain to her about the “know-whos versus the know-hows”, etc. and how it works out there.

And thirdly, I asked her to remember just how she felt that day and to keep that in her. Because one day when she has to make a decision which might affect somebody’s future or life, she has to make the right decision. If she does not, somebody would end up feeling the way she did that day.

We told her that she had to make loads of Do'a, and that she has to wait, and be patient.

And so, the waiting game began again…

A few SMSes were exchanged between Ayah and Dr Chia from Monday as we were just too anxious, and over the couple of days, I would catch Hasya a few times – eyes all red and teary.

Ayah was in constant contact with Dr Chia who reassured us that he was trying his best and we should be patient and wait a while as the college was trying to get confirmation of acceptance from the successful candidates this week.

And so we waited… yet again.

On Wednesday morning, I got this forwarded SMS from Ayah –

“Good Morning, En. Haizal. We can offer Hasya a place if you can confirm and pay the deposit by Saturday”

I was jumping up and down after reading the SMS! Syukur Alhamdulillah… Syukur kepada Allah SWT ☺

I straightaway went to my MIL’s room where Hasya was sleeping, woke her up and showed her the SMS. She was a bit confused at first, but, when she finally realized what it meant, her face just lit up and she was giggling away! And I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

I would save those precious images in my mind forever…

We will still try to apply for a scholarship for her, but, even if she doesn’t get the scholarship, Ayah and I have decided that come what may, Hasya WILL go to KYSM because she deserves to be in KYSM.

My pesan to her the other day –

“Hasya, now that you have been accepted, you must prove it to them, that you deserved to be in the first list in the first place….”

I make do’a that she would do well, and that she would appreciate the fact that she is one of the few chosen ones, and that she would always be grateful for the rezqi which Allah SWT has bestowed on her, insya Allah…

Thursday, October 13, 2011

A lot on my mind laaa, dear Facebook... You don't give me enough space oso

I'm supposed to write what is on my mind on my FB status.

But, what I have in mind at this moment will be too much and I don't think they would be "squeezable" into the allocated status box.

So, I'm writing what's on my mind here, and you decide la how I am feeling, and what's on my mind, okay?

5:50a.m - Woke up and got ready for the day (after only having slept for 4 hours last night).

6:45a.m - Left my MIL's house to send kids to school. Ayah would normally do this, but, as I had to be in UM by 8:15a.m anyway today, and the fact that Ayah only had a few hours of sleep and rest for the last couple of nights, it was only fair and right for me to send the kids this morning so that he could catch up on some sleep. No big deal as the schools are so near UM anyway.

7:13a.m - Dropped Hasya and Hilman at their school.

7:25a.m - Dropped Hanna at her school.

7:45a.m - Arrived at AEI (UM) - as I was to have a meeting in KL and the plan was to car pool to Chulan Tower with some colleagues from AEI.

8:25a.m - Left AEI and was stuck in a terrible jam at Jalan Tun Razak (Don't ask me why we used that route in the first place).

9:10a.m - Arrived at the meeting venue. (The meeting was supposed to start at 9:00a.m, by the way. I hate it when I'm late for meetings!).

10:30a.m - Meeting ended, and we made our way back to UM.

10:55a.m - Reached AEI. Got my car and drove back to my Department.

11:15a.m - Started my AUEA1104 Lecture.

12:55p.m - Finished my Lecture.

1:00p.m - Started my AUEA2104 Tutorial.

1:45p.m - Done with my Tutorial, and left UM to fetch Hasya and Hilman.

1:55p.m - Reached the school, fetched Hasya and Hilman and went straight to Section 14 to send Hilman to tuition.

2:05p.m - Dropped Hilman, and made my way to Tropicana to send Hasya home.

2:45p.m - Reached Tropicana. Had lunch. Had a 10 minute rest before going back to the office.

3:00p.m - Hasya came to the room and said,

Hasya : "Mommy, I need to print some stuff using a colored printer!".

Me : "Why didn't you tell me earlier Hasya? We could have gone straight to my office to print the stuff after sending Hilman tadi...".

Hasya : "Oh...Sorry, Mommy. I forgot."

Me - (Too tired to argue) As we only have a B&W printer at home, printing at my office would be the best option for a colored print-job.

3:40p.m - Left Tropicana with Hasya. And I have to say that the sun was SCORCHING HOT today! I had the car aircond on full blast, but, I could still feel the heat burning my skin!

4:15p.m - Reached Section 14 (with a splitting headache building up) and fetched Hilman.

4:45p.m - Reached UM and had to bring Hilman to have his LUNCH. Apparently, he did not have his lunch between 1-1:45pm before his tuition even though I SPECIFICALLY INSTRUCTED HIM THIS MORNING to makan first at the school canteen while waiting for me to finish my class and fetch them.

AAAARRRGGGHH!!

4:45p.m until 5:30p.m - caught up in an urgent discussion with a colleague. Lost track of time.

5:30p.m - Called Ustadz to inform that Hilman would be slightly late for mengaji and that Ustadz should start the class first with my niece and nephew, and Hilman should be back by 6:15p.m.

At the same time, I called Hanna to ask her to tumpang and go back to her friend Elynna's house in Section 14 first after her tuition at Jalan Bukit, and that I would fetch her once everything was settled.

5:45p.m - Went up to the office. Started printing Hasya's stuff. THEN ONLY DISCOVERED that it was not JUST to print, but, also to search for the items from the internet first. YES. ITEMS. NOT ITEM. I ended up printing more than 15 images for her.

6:15p.m - Print-job suddenly stalled. And I asked Hasya,

Me : "How many more items do you need to print, Hasya?

Hasya : "About 5 more, Mommy"

Me : FIVE?! Hasya, when do you need all the images for?

Hasya : Tomorrow...

Me : Tomorrow?! And when did you know that you had to print all these?!

Hasya : Last Thursday...

Me : (Blood already went upstairs - started to lose my top!)

AAAARRGGHHHHHHH!!! AAAARRRGGHHHH!!!!

6:25p.m - Had to ask Hilman to call and apologize to Ustadz as there was no way we could reach home in time for mengaji. So, only his cousins had kelas mengaji with Ustadz today.

6:30p.m - Left UM and went straight to Section 14 to fetch Hanna from Elynna's house.

6:45p.m : Reached in front of Elynna's house and called Hanna.

Me : "Hanna, we're already in front of the house..."

Hanna : Mommy, I AM in front of the house. Where are you?

Me : In front of Elynna's house lah...

Hanna : But, Mommy! I texted you saying that I could not follow Elynna home as she was going to Kelana Jaya after tuition. So, I'm still at my tuition place!


(Blood CONTINUED "going upstairs". 2 storey high, in fact!)

Me : You're STILL at Jalan Bukit?! Why didn't you CALL me? Why did you just text me?! I didn't check my SMS tadi as I was in a hurry to fetch you!Jalan Bukit is so near my office!. And I'm already in Section 14 now! Why is it that it's so easy for you to call your friends, but, so difficult for you to CALL me to tell me that you tak jadi ikut Elynna balk?!!!

AAARRGGHHHH!!! AAARRGGHHHH!!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! TARIK RAMBUUUUTTT!!!

And I had to go through all the traffic AGAIN to go back to Jalan Bukit!

7:00p.m - Reached Hanna's tuition place, fetched her and started to make our way back to Tropicana.

Malas nak membebel - so I just kept quiet. NOT GOOD FOR YOUR HEART, I tell you - keeping your anger inside.

Journey from Jalan Bukit to Tropicana took nearly an hour. JAM GILER TAHAP TAK BOLEH NAK CAKAP DAH!!!

By the time we reached home, I was mentally and physically drained....

20:45p.m : Received an SMS from Ayah - he had just finished an angio case and needed to do his night rounds and so, he would be home late, and he would have dinner at the hospital.

AARRRGGGHHH!!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!! AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!! TARIK RAMBUUUUUUTTTT SAMPAI BOTAAAAKKKK!!!


*NOW. THOSE ARE THE THINGS WHICH ARE ON MY MIND, DEAR FACEBOOK >:( YOU WOULD NOT HAVE LAYANED ME IF I WERE TO WRITE ALL THOSE STUFF ON MY STATUS BOX, WOULD YOU?!

And, oh! Don't get me started on the fact that I'm still recovering from a very vicious flu and also the fact that our driver for the last 1 year 8 months had suddenly tendered his 1 week notice of resignation a few days ago (when he was supposed to give us 1 month notice!)and decided not to turn up for work at all after giving his notice!

And also the fact that I have more than 10 pairs of my baju kurung at the dry cleaners which the said driver was supposed to collect this week, but which are STILL uncollected in Sri Damansara (and I've run out of decent baju kerja to wear in my wardrobe at my MIL's house!).

And tomorrow is the last day to pay for the EPF and SOCSO contribution for Ayah's company's staff, and I have two meetings tomorrow and a function to attend and I just don't know when exactly I can run to settle the contributions!

And I just realized that there are still some outstanding bills still not settled which require me to go to the payor company personally.

And I'm supposed to collect the keys to our BJ house 2 months ago (after defect rectification works had been done).

And tak payah lah tanya whether I've achieved my KPI at work for this year, ok? Nanti says masuk ICU...

10000000000x AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!

HADOOIIII...THANK GOD LAAAA FOR BLOGSPOT...

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Testing the market - my observation.

I might be wrong, but I think ALL male species at some point (or points?) in their lives will always be tempted to try and test the market - including those whom we would categorize as "pijak semut pun tak mati". Whether they would eventually be "bought" and become someone else's "property" will all depend on their niat to try the market in the first instance.

Some would be happy if they didn't get any buyers. Ada orang "tengok" pun, they're fine already, and they would pull out from the market.

Some would be thrilled if they become the object of an auction, and they would at the end of the day decide who their ultimate "owner" would be - their original "owner", or a new "owner" - depending on who would be prepared to pay the higher price for them.

Some would even WAIT to be bought, BUT, with a hope that the buyer would get bored with them, and they could go back home to their previous "owner" eventually.

Some would be waiting to be bought, and waiting to be released by their previous "owner", but alas there are no buyers interested in them.

Some probably wouldn't even realize that they were testing the market, but along the way would start to feel the thrill of having people interested in them. Some of those in this group would "develop further" and then fall under one of the categories above. But, some would get back to their senses and would pull out from the market before any new buyer could bring them home.

And some of the little piggies would go to test the market because they are just that. Pigs.

Whatever category these male species might fall into, one thing they always forget is that - a lot of female species would get hurt along the way...buyers included.

And some are hurt REALLY badly - to a point that even though at the end of the day, the male species might decide to pull out from the market, the damage has been done and the scars would be there until their dying day...

If only these male species would think with their mono head first before they decide to test the market, huh?

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Laporan anak-anak...

* I actually drafted this two weeks ago, but was tied up with stuff and just could not follow it through at one seating. So, it might be a bit outdated, but alang-alang dah ada dalam my Draft box, why not just post it, kan? :)

Laporan Anak #1

Ayah and I went to Sri Aman Open Day to collect Hanna's report on 23rd June (Thursday) morning.

CGP of 3.61, and 7th in her class. She got 5th in her last test.

Not too bad, I guess, but her teacher - Pn Illyanie, said Hanna could do better. She could even be in the Top 3, in fact.

So, Ayah asked her how Hanna is in class generally, and what can she do to improve her grades. And Pn Illyanie said,

"Hmmm... Hanna ni banyak cakap in class... (Errr... Tell us something we don't know already, please? Hehehe...) But, bila ditanya soalan, dia memang boleh jawab. And bila saya tanya Cikgu-cikgu lain pun semua cakap macam tu. Hanna boleh bawak semua subjects - tak der masalah. Kalau kurang sikit bercakap, insya Allah lagi okay... Macam this time - banyak cakap pun, results ok...".

Errr... If you say so, Pn Illyanie... :)

Anyway, we went on to ask Pn Illyanie if she thinks Hanna has been so distracted with all her Club activities in the last couple of months (she's running for President of Sri Aman Interact Club, and also Treasurer for PRS, and has been actively involved in all sorts of Interact and PRS activities, and sports practice, too).

And Pn Illyanie said that it is quite normal for Sri Aman's Form Four students to go all out in all their club activities, and they would give all in whatever tasks and responsibilities given to them, and those who are active would more often than not, see a dip in their grades in Form Four.

Pn Illyanie assured us that once the students give up their posts in the Clubs when they're in Form Five, then insya Allah their grades would improve tremendously after that and they would do very well for their SPM, insya Allah.

I hope so, Pn Illyanie... I hope Hanna is one of them. I seriously hope so...

Laporan Anak-anak #2 and #3

All of us went out of the house at 6:45am on Friday (24th July) morning.

We had asked Zaidy to start work at 6:30am today instead of his usual 9:30am/10:00am reason being we were going to Hasya and Hilman's Report Card Day. If Ayah were to drive, it'll be near to impossible to find parking at the school, especially this time the school had scheduled the Open day for BOTH sesi pagi and petang in the morning.

Anyway, Zaidy dropped us and Hasya Hilman off outside the school at 7:15pm, and off he went to send Hanna to Sri Aman.

As we were early (the perjumpaan with the Guru Kelas was supposed to start at 8:00am), Ayah and I decided to have breakfast at the canteen first.

By 7:45pm, we noticed that some of the parents had started to queue up in front of the classrooms, and some had even seen the teachers, so, we made our way to Hasya's class first.

Her class teacher is Puan Usha who was also Hanna's class teacher when she was in Standard 6.

Syukur alhamdulillah, Hasya got all As. But, for placing in class she got #4. It has become a pattern for Hasya from Standard 1 to fare better in her finals than her mid-year exams, so we were half expecting that. She would normally get #1 or #2 for her finals, and the lowest she had gotten for her mid-year so far was #5. So, this is still within her expected range.

Anyway, we were told by Puan Usha that Hasya is doing well, and she should not have any problems maintaining her As for her UPSR. Insya Allah...

And when we asked Puan Usha, how she is in class, whether she's playful or talkative, etc., the reply we got was,

"No, she's okay! She's not as talkative as Hanna... (Hahaha! Hanna really has a reputation of being talkative both in her primary and secondary schools! Aiyoooo... :))) Hasya participates in class and is always enthusiastic in whatever she does. She's a well-rounded girl - and she does well in her studies and also she's very active in her co-curriculum activities, too. There are students who score, but, that's it. They just study".

So, we take it that Hasya should be fine and should improve on her low As by the time she sits for her UPSR, insya Allah :)

Next we went to Hilman's class and sat down with Encik Suhaidi, his class teacher.

And guess what? The first thing Encik Suhaidi asked was, "Kakak Hilman, Hanna apa khabar?" (Aiyoooo... Kan I dah kata Anak #1 tu famous... LOL!!!)

Anyway, Hilman got 4As and 1B (for Science, which is his favorite subject - which he got Hadiah Matapelajaran Terbaik every year). So, we asked Encik Suhaidi if Hilman had any problem following the subject in class in Tahun 5?

The answer we got was that the questions were quite hard and only 2 students got A for Science, and the fact that Hilman got a very high B for Science meant that we should not be too overly concerned. Hilman should be able to do well in the subject, insya Allah. According to Encik Suhaidy, if based on his marks, Hilman is second in his class, but because there are 2 of his classmates who got 5As, Hilman is therefore ranked #3.

And the standard question on how our kids are doing in class was also asked :)

And Encik Suhaidy said this,

"Hilman ni, kira macam jadi contoh lah dalam kelas. Memang selalu participate in class and selalu nak jawab soalan. Sampai kadang-kadang saya kena cakap kat dia, 'Hilman tak dibenarkan jawab soalan ni!" (HAHAHAHA! That is SO Hilman! :))

Encik Suhaidy went on to say -

"And Hilman suka bertanya. Apa yang dia tak faham, dia tak segan bertanya. Kadang-kadang saya pun tak boleh nak jawab and kena minta dia berjumpa dengan saya selepas kelas...(Hehehee... That's our Hilman alright!) Generally, Hilman ni bagus dan budak yang baik. Insya Allah dia tak ada masalah nanti..."

Syukur alhamdulillah... Insya Allah :)

So, I'm quite happy with the reports from the teachers, and I know, if we were to look at the previous patterns, both Hasya and Hilman will fare better in their finals nanti, insya Allah...

Errrr... But, for Ayah -

In Hasya's case, it does not matter if Hasya is more active in all the co-curriculum activities compared to her friends who got #1 and #2, she should still get #1.

And in Hilman's case, if there are two students in his class who could score A for Science, Hilman should have also gotten an A! Whether the questions were hard or not, is irrelevant.

** Adoyaiiii... Kesian lah anak-anak yang bapaknya high achiever nih...Hehehe!*

Sunday, June 12, 2011

7 o'clock...

I was fast asleep when I suddenly felt Hilman tapping on my shoulder.

Hilman : Mommy, can I borrow your Master key, please, Mommy?

Me : Huhh?! (Still in "mamai" mode, and I looked out of the window) Errrr... What's the time now, Hilman?

Hilman : It's 7 o'clock, Mommy.

Me : 7?! (Panic mode!) Huhh?!! Why do you need my Master key? Kenapa Hilman tak gi sekolah lagi ni?!

Hilman : I need to find my school tie in Wan's room, Mommy.

Me : (Angry mode) Baru nak cari tie now?! It's already 7 o'clock, Hilman! Kenapa tak siapkan semua semalam?! Kan Mommy selalu pesan you have to get everything ready for school the night before. You'll be late for school nanti!

Hilman : (Puzzled mode) Errrr...? That's why I want to borrow your Master key, Mommy. I want to look for my school tie...

Me : It's already 7 o'clock, Hilman! Where's Ayah?!

(Started feeling puzzled as to why Ayah woke up late and why he did not wake me up to solat subuh like he normally would in the morning!)

Hilman : Errr...Ayah's in the bathroom, Mommy - mandi I think?

I slowly looked out of the window again, and around the room and suddenly it dawned on me and I realized that it was 7:00 P.M ON SUNDAY and NOT 7:00 A.M ON MONDAY!

Me : (Feeling guilty for raising my voice at Hilman) Errrr.... All my keys are in the two pouches in my handbag, Hilman. If they're not there, they're in my work bag.

Hilman : Errr, ok Mommy... Thanks... (With a puzzled look on his face)

MORAL OF THE STORY - DO NOT TIDUR PETANG WHEN IT HAS BEEN YEARS SINCE YOU LAST DID SO!

HEHEHE... :)))

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Oops! No more my baby (next year?)

Ayah, myself , Hasya and Hilman were just having our dose of Tutti Frutti froyo
for the day at our outlet in SS2 last night when this conversation came up -

Hasya : Hmmmm... Hilman has got stuff on his face now!

Me : Stuff? What do you mean?

And I looked at Hilman's face.

Me : Oh, you mean facial hair? Not that much and that clear lah, Hasya.

Hasya : Ya lah kot? (and a 3 second pause) Oh my. Puberty!

At this point, Hilman butted in -

Hilman : No la. Next year la... (with his usual muka selamba) :)

Ayah looked at me, and we looked at Hasya and all of us started laughing!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

"H

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Income tax filing woes... What's new, babe?

It's not as if I didn't know the deadline to submit my tax returns is at the end of April.
And it's not as if I had to do it myself, as both Ayah and I have engaged tax agents to file everything for us. Mine is based in Rawang, while Ayah is asking our company secretary to do it for him as this is the first time he has to submit returns for our company (for medical consultancy and services) AND for his personal incomes.

But, still I had to wait until 3:00pm today to fax all the necessary statements to the agents (who must be cursing like crazy today as I'm sure we are not the only procrastinators on their clients list!)

Anyway, by 4:00pm, (talk about efficient service!)I received a phonecall from my tax agent informing me that she had done the calculations and I don't have to pay anything for last year's income. In fact LHDN owes me money! YEAYYY!! Well, it's not much coz' my gaji pun bukannya banyak mana pun - chiput jer... But, lepaslah kot satu Coach handbag... (hahaha!) Syukur alhamdulillah :)

So now we're waiting with bated breaths for Ayah's tax agent to come back to us... Hopefully, they can somehow come up with ways to get as many exemptions for Ayah, and get him to pay as minimal as possible.

If not, our year end vacation might have to wait...

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Happy 27th Anniversary (of knowing each other...), darling

It's 10:40pm, 25th April 2011.

In 1 hour and 20 mins, it'll be 26th April 2011 - marking the 27th Anniversary of the day Ayah and I first knew each other. To those who followed our cherita chenta which I posted 4 years ago when we celebrated our 23rd Anniversary (I think?), you would already know the cerita hindustan and the ups and downs of our courting years which started when we were both 16 years old, sampailah we tied the knot ten years after that, at the age of 26 on 9.9.94 :)

Syukur alhamdulillah - this year both of us are 43 years old, and I still can't believe that it has been 27 years since we first knew each other way back in 1984 when we were in Form Four! And we're still going on strong, insya Allah - with our eldest - Hanna at 16, Hasya at 12, and Hilman at 11 :)

It has been a wonderful 27 years - going through an amazing journey as best friends - more than 16 years of which as husband and wife.

Syukur alhamdulillah, life has been good to us and Allah SWT has blessed us with a wonderful marriage, albeit with glitches, cold wars and challenges here and there, which had sometimes rocked the core of our married souls. However, the same dugaan were the things which have made our love and commitment to each other stronger over the years.

I guess having known each other for more than 10 years before tying the knot had laid a very strong foundation for our marriage to stay steadfast, come what may.

There's no such thing as a perfect marriage, and I don't claim my marriage to Ayah to be perfect. But, I know that, dengan Rahmat dan Berkat dariNya, we are very happy because we always bersyukur with whatever that comes our way, insya Allah - be it good things, great things, not so great things, dugaan maha besar and dugaan maha kecil... Through thick and thin, we have stayed together, syukur alhamdulillah.

I don't know if I would ever live that long and get the chance to celebrate another 27 years of pure marital bliss, but, I know that whatever borrowed times we have, I will treasure Ayah - my husband, my confidante, my best friend until my last breath, insya Allah.

And I make do'a that he will treasure me the same way, insya Allah... Amin.

Happy 27th Anniversary (of first knowing each other!), darling :)

Love you loads... (Words just can't describe how much exactly, but, I know you know just how much I love you...)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Updates on Family, Work and Business (?!)

Oh my...oh my! It has been nearly 4 months since I last posted an entry here (and I nearly forgot my blogspot username and password!)

So many things to share but I just don't know where to start!

I think I shall categorize my cerita into three groups today - family and I, work and business venture (Yup! you read it right - "business venture" - hence the reason why I've been running like a headless chicken for the last few months!) Will leave that story for the last.

Family and I

The follow-up from my last entry - Syukur alhamdulillah Hanna got straight A's for her PMR. Very, very proud of her :))) As the Kak Long, she has indeed set a very good example for her sister and brother.

As a recognition for her achievement, she received an award under the Badan Anak Negeri Wilayah Persekutuan last Saturday (by virtue of her Wan and Ayah being Anak Nogoghi), and insya Allah this Saturday her school will be having their Hari Anugerah and Penghargaan, and she'll get an award, too, on that day.

And Hanna got No.5 in the whole Form in the March test! Looking good so far, insya Allah :) And she represented her school in handball for the MSSD Meet earlier this month.

Hasya is made a prefect again this year, and she's holding the post of the Secretary for the Prefectorial Board. And she represented her school in netball for the MSSD, too.

As for her PKSR 1, Hasya didn't do as well as she expected, and she VOLUNTARILY surrendered her handphone to me after she got her results! She said she wants me to keep it for two months - and how could I say "No" to that, kan? Hehehe...

Hilman got No. 1 in class for his PKSR 1, and because of that we lifted the 1 month ban we imposed on him in February when he carelessly put his PS3 box on his Wan's brand new car and scratched it! So, he's back being a happy boy he is after fasting from playing PS3 for nearly 1 month!

Ayah is as busy as always - no change there. Please refer to my older postings on how busy Ayah was. Hehehe... Can copy and paste here. Same ole, same ole ;)

Oh ya, still on the family front - We've started going for badminton sessions every Sunday for the last 2 months. What started off as just a family bonding session while Hilman attended badminton coaching at the Pioneer Badminton Academy at Sunsuria, has now turned into 'sweat-it-out' sessions with friends as well, and as to date we have 4 to 5 other families of friends joining us every Sunday! My MT gang include Abid, Awin and Ieja, who have also enrolled their sons for badminton coaching, too!

The good thing about these badminton sessions is of course - I feel much healthier and relaxed nowadays. And, I now spend less time and money on shopping, too, coz' previously Sunday was our Family lepak day at the shopping malls! So, it's a double-edged sword for us :) So, that's nice :)

By the way, Hilman's chief coach is Lee Wan Wah - one half of our former Malaysia's number one doubles badminton player. Had never really seen him in real life before this - only on TV and in the newspapers. Handsome jugak Mr Lee Wan Wah ni rupanya...Ada rupa Andy Lau, weh! HAHAHAHA! And oh ya, Dato' Lee Chong Wei also made a special appearance at the academy earlier this month right after winning the All England title - much to the delight of Hilman and his friends - siap bergambo bagai lagi :)

So, that's about it on family matters, I think?

Work

My HoD tendered his resignation unexpectedly early January, and yours truly dipaksarela to become the Bidan Terjun and fill in as the HoD until August this year (and hopefully, the management will not extend it beyond that!). It has only been 3 months plus heading the Department, but, I think my grey hair has doubled (even tripled) since January! I have never been a fan of admin work, but, this time, nak tak nak terpaksa jugak pikul tanggungjawab demi department... I am so not cut out to be an HoD!

Business ventures

Hmmmm...nak tergelak pun ada - out of the blue suddenly teman dah jadi businesswoman lah pulak, ya?! :)

Sebagai persiapan nak pencen, Ayah and I decided to seriously think about investing in business(es).

Our first opportunity came when one of Ayah's friends approached us if we would be interested to become investors/financier for his OTWC outlet in Damansara Perdana. We didn't really have to think hard about it, and within a month, all paperwork was finalized, and we officially became businessman/woman! Chewaaah!! ;) But, we're not the franchisee as such, but, insya Allah will be getting some steady fixed returns from our investments into the business. Not millions, of course, but, sufficient to build up and add on to our savings, insya Allah. So, if ever you guys are in Damansara Perdana area, do drop by the OTWC place at Metropolitan Square (besides Citibank), okay? :)

AND, our more serious and BIGGER venture has just opened two weeks ago, with our Grand Opening on Saturday 16th April 2011. We have opened a TUTTI FRUTTI FROZEN YOGHURT OUTLET in SS2, PJ! Same row as McD, just besides AmBank, across the Hawker Centre.

What started out as a joke has in fact become a reality for us!

Our kids, together with their lil' cousins were so into Tutti Frutti Frozen Yoghurt (or Froyos) that they were having it nearly every day (sometimes twice a day, in fact!), and Ayah made a remark, if they buy it everyday, might as well we buy the shop! (Gempaq!! LOL!) That thought suddenly didn't sound like a joke anymore when we decided to discuss the venture with Ayah's siblings, and they agreed to it!

So, from our first meeting with Naza Tutti Frutti Malaysia management at the end of January, and after finalizing the paperwork, and renovation work, we finally opened for business on 9th April 2011, and a week after that, on 16th April 2011 we had our Grand Opening with BUNKFACE making a special appearance - mingling with guests and fans, and also singing three songs for their fans. They were simply awesome - very talented and yet very humble (not to mention making many young girls' hearts melt that day! Hehehe!)

I would like to share some pictures of our Grand Opening here :)

So, if ever you guys are in the neighbourhood, do drop by and FROYO with us, okay? The address is -

No. 36, Jalan SS2/61
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

We open 7 days a week, from 12pm to 12am and we have Happy Hour from 12pm to 3pm Monday to Thursday until the end of April, whereby we give 20% discount to customers :) Free WiFi available.

I'm there almost everyday after 6:00pm - straight after work, and would stay until closing time at 12:00am.

So, begitulah kira-kiranya why I've been on a very long hiatus for the last 4 months or so. So many things to juggle and I only have two hands, 2 feet and 1 head... Fenin jugak, but, I'm getting used to the new routine/schedule now (insya Allah)

I will try to post entries regularly from now on while moonlighting at our Tutti Frutti Outlet everynight, hopefully, insya Allah :)