Imagine, in the old days, people don't change clothes as often as we do, morning, day and night. In the old days, people wear the same clothes at home, when they go out, and when they sleep.. they change only when the clothes are dirty. People nowadays can have 4-5 different set of clothes just for one day. Clothes for sleeping, clothes for the office, clothes for staying home, clothes for ceremonies, clothes for jogging, clothes for swimming.. It's no wonder our closet space is never enough.
One thing I'd like to do away with is 'house clothes' or 'baju rumah'. House clothes are normally the ugliest or the most selekeh of the lot, because we are of the idea that 'people' don't see us at home. We need to change this distorted perception. Especially so for us, wives. We should be looking our BEST, not at work or when we go out, but at home, in front of our husband and family.
AND we should also be in our nice clothes when we face our Lord, when we pray. I've never heard about this being mentioned before, but I found it there in the Quran..
O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.
Say: Who hath forbidden the beautiful (gifts) of Allah, which He hath produced for His servants, and the things, clean and pure, (which He hath provided) for sustenance? Say: They are, in the life of this world, for those who believe, (and) purely for them on the Day of Judgment. Thus do We explain the signs in detail for those who understand.
Al Quran, Al-A'raf 7:31-32
MasyaAllah, This Book, never fail to amaze me... I find that everytime I read it (even if I've read the passage before), I discover something 'new', that I was not aware of before.
So you see.. you can wear and should wear beautiful clothes.. but waste not Erni!, until there's not enough closet space.
This raya.. i think I have no need (and no space) for new raya clothes.
Madame Blossom's Book of Poems
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
the new home
Alhamdulillah. but i didn't realise or didn't think about having to actually adjust to the new environment. I was prepared adjusting to new routines, but still it took 2-3 weeks to get the feel of it. Then, there's the +ve and -ve about this place, that I have to accept and learn to live with.
And, every now and then, I still wake up thinking I'm in my old room, then I'm thinking like.. how did I sleep?.. which side of the room am I facing?
This morning was weirdest, I woke up thinking it was Sunday - when in fact, I had gone to work yesterday, a MONDAY. Yeap, a bit disoriented, I am.
But.. i'm getting the hang of it, alhamdulillah.
The other weekend, we explored the area..
geram tengok rambutan so red..
no, that's NOT hubby..
Yeap, that night we had rambutans.
We bought from a shop.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
kelly
Among all the Japanese girlfriends I have, I think Kelly chan, is THE most typical, traditional Japanese girl, of them all. In her speech, in her looks, her moves, the way she holds her tea cup and how she eats, and nods, and bows, and walks, and how she carries her handbag, how she continues to stand, ever so slightly bowing, waiting until we are totally out of sight, before she moves away when we part. It's as if she's been plucked out from a traditional Japanese movie - minus the kimono. Ok, I may have exaggerated a bit, about the japanese movie thing.
Anyhow, she was here last month, and... to put it in her kind, kind of words, I had the pleasure of meeting her for a drink. I brought her to Singapore Flyer Popeye's where she bought me cinnamon coffee, which was quite nice.
That day, I learnt a little bit about Japanese Tea Ceremony, for which she is currently attending a course. I wasn't aware that there are actually long courses on tea ceremonies. They learn and practise so many things for a tea ceremony, including tea tasting, tea making, utensils, how to sit, where to face, what to say, flower arrangement, incenses and smells and even learn old Japanese poems and quotes.
The Malays, we just go to the sarbat stall and ask for 'teh tarik satu!'.
Friday, July 25, 2008
a little wasted sleep time
Last night, I entertained my guest-friend-neighbour, norzlin with a song and dance. Then after Isya', I, finally, set up the printer. I wanted to set up the home networking also - but apparently, windows vista and windows xp have problems 'talking' to each other. Microsoft. I'll go find the fix another time.
Watched TV instead. A movie was playing.. don't know the title.
It looked interesting. At first. A murder being committed by a disturbed lady. A lady reporter who has been observing the apartment, saw it. The reporter was investigating a doctor who uses children to do drug tests. The murderer and the doctor were related.
The reporter called the police. The doctor found out someone knew and quickly went to the apartment where the murder was committed. He calmed the lady who was in the apt, and cleaned up the murder location in super-fast-time-i-should-hire-him-as-a-cleaner. The police and the lady reporter went to the apartment, they didn't find any trace of murder.
From then on, it got more mengarut and.. i can't think of another more suitable word than 'stupid'.
The reporter, later found out that the lady in the apartment, had a siamese twin and they were separated in an operation done by this doctor, about 10 yrs before. The siamese twin, the supposedly more evil one, died shortly after the operation.
Towards the end of the movie, the reporter, told her boyfriend to meet her at some children hospital where the doctor was going to be. She reached there and didn't find her boyfriend, but was instead, caught by the doctor and sedated.
She was in and out of consciousness. I can't figure out if she was remembering the past or being brain washed but the whole thing was in a dreamy kind of state. During that time also, somebody dyed her hair brown, like the ex-siamese twin lady's.
Then she saw the ex siamese twin lady, lying on a bed beside the one she was on. The doctor was there too, consoling and carrassing the ex siamese twin lady. The doctor was coaxing the ex-siamese twin lady to inject the reporter with some mixture, but instead, the lady passed the syringe to the lady reporter.
The lady reporter used the syringe to...err..stab.. yes, stab the doctor repeatedly from behind and there was SO MUCH blood. The doctor finally died from... needle stabs.
Then, we see the boyfriend. He was lying on some bed in hospital suit, apparently also sedated earlier. He went to look for his reporter girlfriend.. and saw her with the dead doctor and.. SO MUCH blood.
He called to her, 'Jenny?' (hentam aje..I can't recall the name actually). She replied, ' No, Annabel', which was the name of the dead siamese twin. Suddenly, someone slit the boyfriend's throat from behind - it was the ex siamese twin lady.
In the next scene, it was early morning, and we see the lady reporter and the ex-siamese twin lady walking out from the hospital, same hair colour and style, dressed very neatly and exactly the same, walking side by side closely, like siamese twins. Credits rolling.
I wasted my sleep time for that.
Watched TV instead. A movie was playing.. don't know the title.
It looked interesting. At first. A murder being committed by a disturbed lady. A lady reporter who has been observing the apartment, saw it. The reporter was investigating a doctor who uses children to do drug tests. The murderer and the doctor were related.
The reporter called the police. The doctor found out someone knew and quickly went to the apartment where the murder was committed. He calmed the lady who was in the apt, and cleaned up the murder location in super-fast-time-i-should-hire-him-as-a-cleaner. The police and the lady reporter went to the apartment, they didn't find any trace of murder.
From then on, it got more mengarut and.. i can't think of another more suitable word than 'stupid'.
The reporter, later found out that the lady in the apartment, had a siamese twin and they were separated in an operation done by this doctor, about 10 yrs before. The siamese twin, the supposedly more evil one, died shortly after the operation.
Towards the end of the movie, the reporter, told her boyfriend to meet her at some children hospital where the doctor was going to be. She reached there and didn't find her boyfriend, but was instead, caught by the doctor and sedated.
She was in and out of consciousness. I can't figure out if she was remembering the past or being brain washed but the whole thing was in a dreamy kind of state. During that time also, somebody dyed her hair brown, like the ex-siamese twin lady's.
Then she saw the ex siamese twin lady, lying on a bed beside the one she was on. The doctor was there too, consoling and carrassing the ex siamese twin lady. The doctor was coaxing the ex-siamese twin lady to inject the reporter with some mixture, but instead, the lady passed the syringe to the lady reporter.
The lady reporter used the syringe to...err..stab.. yes, stab the doctor repeatedly from behind and there was SO MUCH blood. The doctor finally died from... needle stabs.
Then, we see the boyfriend. He was lying on some bed in hospital suit, apparently also sedated earlier. He went to look for his reporter girlfriend.. and saw her with the dead doctor and.. SO MUCH blood.
He called to her, 'Jenny?' (hentam aje..I can't recall the name actually). She replied, ' No, Annabel', which was the name of the dead siamese twin. Suddenly, someone slit the boyfriend's throat from behind - it was the ex siamese twin lady.
In the next scene, it was early morning, and we see the lady reporter and the ex-siamese twin lady walking out from the hospital, same hair colour and style, dressed very neatly and exactly the same, walking side by side closely, like siamese twins. Credits rolling.
I wasted my sleep time for that.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Business terms that amuses me
I am taking a mental break from this BIG, loooong, tedious system tests that I have to do. And I find myself thinking about WBS.. and BPR. Let me share my thoughts..
BPR
..stands for Business Process Reengineering. It sounds scary - but it's really just about looking into your daily tasks and seeing how you can improve it by working smarter and faster. I think smart workers do their own BPR every now and then. Other than that, they tell you which part of it, can be done by a computer system.
Big companies employ big consultancy firms to do this for them and the charged fee is like tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand. And the thing is, these consultants don't actually IMPROVE your tasks per se. They fly in from all around the world, come into your office and help you ask YOURSELF, how you can improve your own tasks. Oh, they also help you question your bosses, why you do what you do.
Then from the numbers they ask the company to gather, they do some superficial calculations of 'savings' in time, manpower, money - WHICH in most cases, do not reflect the real situation (just like how GDP does not reflect the real state of a country).
Reminds me of..(if you'd let me side-track a bit. No, you have no choice), my lecturer who does not like the word 'average'. He says average is not real. If I have one feet in scalding hot water like 100 deg Cel, and the other leg in an ice cold water - 0 deg Cel - it would have looked OK on the 'average'. But it's NOT.
I'm drifting away from my main topic.
My thoughts are.. if the BIG BOSS is sincere, smart and determined about improving, there CAN be improvement without having to pay thousands of dollars, just to find out how. Else, even at the end of the whole exercise.. nothing much will change. End of BPR.
WBS
I just learned this acronym/term, about last week. I was asked to manage this one project and then asked to prepare the 'WBS'.
"Sorry." I said, "What's WBS?"
"Oh.. that stands for Work Breakdown Structure"
"Wow. Ermm. Is that like our tasks list?"
And so apparently, it is. So that's another important sounding term for it.
I have nothing more for now - not any that I can recall easily.
It's not important. So, I won't bother.
BPR
..stands for Business Process Reengineering. It sounds scary - but it's really just about looking into your daily tasks and seeing how you can improve it by working smarter and faster. I think smart workers do their own BPR every now and then. Other than that, they tell you which part of it, can be done by a computer system.
Big companies employ big consultancy firms to do this for them and the charged fee is like tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand. And the thing is, these consultants don't actually IMPROVE your tasks per se. They fly in from all around the world, come into your office and help you ask YOURSELF, how you can improve your own tasks. Oh, they also help you question your bosses, why you do what you do.
Then from the numbers they ask the company to gather, they do some superficial calculations of 'savings' in time, manpower, money - WHICH in most cases, do not reflect the real situation (just like how GDP does not reflect the real state of a country).
Reminds me of..(if you'd let me side-track a bit. No, you have no choice), my lecturer who does not like the word 'average'. He says average is not real. If I have one feet in scalding hot water like 100 deg Cel, and the other leg in an ice cold water - 0 deg Cel - it would have looked OK on the 'average'. But it's NOT.
I'm drifting away from my main topic.
My thoughts are.. if the BIG BOSS is sincere, smart and determined about improving, there CAN be improvement without having to pay thousands of dollars, just to find out how. Else, even at the end of the whole exercise.. nothing much will change. End of BPR.
WBS
I just learned this acronym/term, about last week. I was asked to manage this one project and then asked to prepare the 'WBS'.
"Sorry." I said, "What's WBS?"
"Oh.. that stands for Work Breakdown Structure"
"Wow. Ermm. Is that like our tasks list?"
And so apparently, it is. So that's another important sounding term for it.
I have nothing more for now - not any that I can recall easily.
It's not important. So, I won't bother.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
in my life - a song
at some point.. i guess we move on..
this brings me to introduce to u, a song by the beatles, which I like very much. - In my life.
this brings me to introduce to u, a song by the beatles, which I like very much. - In my life.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
bye bye good home
bye bye for good, good home..
:(
:\ ..there is an interesting story to this house. It's our first house, that almost wasn't.
what happened was.. when the time came for us to select our unit at hdb, we selected one that was on the lower floor. We signed the agreement papers and all. But my heart was not at ease. Just after we left the counter, and was walking out of the office, I told hubby (then fiance) that I thought we would regret getting that one.. I want the one on the highest floor. Hubby thought for a while, then went back to the officer, just as they were about to call the next couple for selection. And hubby did what I believe, no one else can, illa masyaAllah.
He explained to the officer we made a wrong choice.. and we wanted to change it. Of course, like most government offices - that officer would not entertain our 'change of heart'. She told us, it was too late, because we signed and stamped the papers. Hubby reasoned with the officer quite persistently, and somehow finally managed to persuade her to take back our earlier papers and destroy them, and let us sign a new one.
MasyaAllah - that house, 769 CCK #19-21, was meant to be ours, after all. :)
And I've never once, regretted getting that unit.
It was a good home.
:(
:\ ..there is an interesting story to this house. It's our first house, that almost wasn't.
what happened was.. when the time came for us to select our unit at hdb, we selected one that was on the lower floor. We signed the agreement papers and all. But my heart was not at ease. Just after we left the counter, and was walking out of the office, I told hubby (then fiance) that I thought we would regret getting that one.. I want the one on the highest floor. Hubby thought for a while, then went back to the officer, just as they were about to call the next couple for selection. And hubby did what I believe, no one else can, illa masyaAllah.
He explained to the officer we made a wrong choice.. and we wanted to change it. Of course, like most government offices - that officer would not entertain our 'change of heart'. She told us, it was too late, because we signed and stamped the papers. Hubby reasoned with the officer quite persistently, and somehow finally managed to persuade her to take back our earlier papers and destroy them, and let us sign a new one.
MasyaAllah - that house, 769 CCK #19-21, was meant to be ours, after all. :)
And I've never once, regretted getting that unit.
It was a good home.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
hubby's friends
did i tell you, my hubby HAPPENS to have friends for neighbours at our new place.
Not 1, not 2, not 4, but THREE friends so far.
first there's yousri.
ok lah.. he was the one who recommended us to get a unit here.
then.. we found his other friend while we were here to check on the house. Hubby was going to go for soccer after that. Then he saw his friend, hilmy, whom he was going to play soccer with that day - and found out he's staying there too! great.
then.. on another day, he found out that one of his golf buddies, I forgot the name, has a unit here too! double great.
Anyhow, something somewhat-embarrasing-but-i-can-live-with, happened.
We found out hilmy's son goes to the same school as nadhrah, whom i have to send every morning, because the school bus cannot fetch her anymore.
hilmy came to the house the other night. I was in my room, when my hubby calls me out. he said something like "so what do u think, pagi tumpang pegi skolah (I heard something to that effect). I exclaimed to hilmy, 'REALLY?! oh ok, bagus lah!'
Then hubby had this confused look, and said, 'errm..I mean.. what about letting hilmy's son tumpang kita - we send anak dia to school skali lah.. '
I had assumed the other way. So I had to immediately change my mode/tone from thankful to helpful, and said, " OH! ok! sure, sure. no problem. boleh lah. :) "
paiseh sikit.
.
Not 1, not 2, not 4, but THREE friends so far.
first there's yousri.
ok lah.. he was the one who recommended us to get a unit here.
then.. we found his other friend while we were here to check on the house. Hubby was going to go for soccer after that. Then he saw his friend, hilmy, whom he was going to play soccer with that day - and found out he's staying there too! great.
then.. on another day, he found out that one of his golf buddies, I forgot the name, has a unit here too! double great.
Anyhow, something somewhat-embarrasing-but-i-can-live-with, happened.
We found out hilmy's son goes to the same school as nadhrah, whom i have to send every morning, because the school bus cannot fetch her anymore.
hilmy came to the house the other night. I was in my room, when my hubby calls me out. he said something like "so what do u think, pagi tumpang pegi skolah (I heard something to that effect). I exclaimed to hilmy, 'REALLY?! oh ok, bagus lah!'
Then hubby had this confused look, and said, 'errm..I mean.. what about letting hilmy's son tumpang kita - we send anak dia to school skali lah.. '
I had assumed the other way. So I had to immediately change my mode/tone from thankful to helpful, and said, " OH! ok! sure, sure. no problem. boleh lah. :) "
paiseh sikit.
.
a fruitful yesterday
I needed to go to Joo chiat complex - to get this stainless steel thing - that can hold onions and/or eggs. It's 2 or 3 levels. It's only available at Joo Chiat, so I've been told. But to go all the way there.. hmm..........
Then yesterday, I had to go to tai seng office for some seminar. apa lagi.. after the seminar + lunch at about 12pm.. I told my boss I want to go geylang and get something for a short while, before going to beach road office, for a meeting at 230pm. I was in and out of Joo chiat in about 15 mins (23 cents parking charge).
next, headed to arab street. remembered to pick up the carpet we sent for cleaning/repairing. while the man went to retrieve my carpet, I went to the rattan shop, where I saw the laundry basket, the other day. I dont think i want to go around some more.. looking for laundry basket. I asked the man how much. he says $45. I asked for lesser.. how about $40 each, i asked. He said OK, almost immediately. Shoots.. I SHOULD have asked for lesser. i'm bad at bargaining.
collected carpet.
went for 230pm meeting.
then, headed to bt merah for 430pm meeting.
and home by 630pm.
felt good.
rested.. did not touch any carton boxes at home.
*unplugged*
Then yesterday, I had to go to tai seng office for some seminar. apa lagi.. after the seminar + lunch at about 12pm.. I told my boss I want to go geylang and get something for a short while, before going to beach road office, for a meeting at 230pm. I was in and out of Joo chiat in about 15 mins (23 cents parking charge).
next, headed to arab street. remembered to pick up the carpet we sent for cleaning/repairing. while the man went to retrieve my carpet, I went to the rattan shop, where I saw the laundry basket, the other day. I dont think i want to go around some more.. looking for laundry basket. I asked the man how much. he says $45. I asked for lesser.. how about $40 each, i asked. He said OK, almost immediately. Shoots.. I SHOULD have asked for lesser. i'm bad at bargaining.
collected carpet.
went for 230pm meeting.
then, headed to bt merah for 430pm meeting.
and home by 630pm.
felt good.
rested.. did not touch any carton boxes at home.
*unplugged*
Monday, July 14, 2008
lost in direction
driving.
-------------
me : turn left?
she : right.
me: what? turn right?
she : left! turn left...
on the phone.
------------------
hanaa : which side punya train to take?
me : facing towards where the train is heading, the one on the left.
hanaa : ok umiy, we're reaching clementi.
me : Ok. Be careful. Make sure you take the right train.
hanaa : Ah? take the train on the right?
me : No no! i mean take the right train.. the right train is on the left! Oops! I mean the CORRECT train...the CORRECT train is on the left!
.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The rainbow connection
Nadhrah : Umiy, da start hujan sikit2
I : Ya, and it's very sunny (thinking of humidity and fever..)
Nadhrah : Rain and sun, ada rainbow!
one of my favourites
I : Ya, and it's very sunny (thinking of humidity and fever..)
Nadhrah : Rain and sun, ada rainbow!
one of my favourites
We've moved!
Yes, the Big day was on Thursday, 10th July.
I'm dead tired.
Just fixed the computer early this morning.
Still a little more unpacking to do.
I'm dead tired.
Just fixed the computer early this morning.
Still a little more unpacking to do.
Friday, July 04, 2008
waiting for the end of the day
great. more or less, finished work for today. i have so MANY things to do, personally. but here I am in the office.. waiting for the end of the day.
how precious time is wasted...
...
.....
...........
while i sit here in the office
waiting for the end of workday
I think about all the things
i have to do today
i need to go to the bank
i need to check on the house
i need to fetch the children
and get to swissotel
i want to take pictures
i want to download them
i want to put them on the web
to let you all see
i need to sort the things at home
i need to pack some of them
i need to label the boxes
the house is getting cramped
i need to check my emails
i want to check my cars
don't want another ticket
from michelle and maimunah
while all these things are waiting
to be done by me
I sit here in the office
being as patient as can be
....
I didn't say i'm a good writer.. :-\
two hours to go.
OH! and today is Friday.. aaah...
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Milo Dinosaur
I have a... according to the doctor, 'very big', ulcer in my mouth, around the wisdom tooth area. I initially thought, the pain was caused by a growing wisdom tooth or something. It must be the milo powder that I ate that day. Teringin pulak. After I ate the delicious and fun milo powder, my nose bled the next day, and now I have mouth ulcer. I shall not eat milo powder just like that again, as long as I remember this, insyaAllah.
Unless, it's my children's milo dinosaur.. which by the way is not known as milo dinosaur in Malaysia. I asked for that (for Nadhrah, not for me), at one of the R&R, on the msian north south highway.. The guy I ordered from, asked me..
"apa tu milo dinosaur? macam mana tu dia?"
"dia air milo ais biasa.. tapi lepas tu.. ada tabur serbuk milo kat atas.."
"OOOoooh.. Milo tabur' la tu."
Plain and simple.
I think i first saw the word 'Milo Dinosaur' at Al Ameen.. wonder if it originated from there. Now, Al Ameen and Al Azhar, have many other fancy named drinks.. which includes '<something> Godzilla' but I don't remember what that's about.
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