the actual G. year that I'll be 40

For the last two years, when people ask me how old I am, I always answer them "..going to be 40 soon." I've been 'looking forward' to being 40 since about 2 years ago. I think it's more of, trying to convince myself that YES, me.. I AM turning 40 soon. I am actually getting old. Although I always don't feel as old, thanks to my children and the mostly younger fun friends that I have. I always have to remind myself I'm THAT old.

Being older has also made me thought about death even more frequently. Yes, you can die anytime, but the odds are of course higher as you get older. I'm wondering what I'll experience after death. I also wonder sometimes, what I'll do in Heaven (insyaAllah, i pray that I get there!). What does one do, when they don't have to work and everything they want is there? I wonder how bliss will come. Of course, we CAN'T ever imagine how it'll be.. but still I wonder sometimes. And I pray that our family and friends will re-unite there.

What do I hope for in my life after 40? I hope my iman and taqwa will grow. I hope I can still be as attractive to my husband as I probably was, when I was younger. Maybe attractive in a different way, a cooler kind of way? I hope I can make a positive contribution and difference to someone's life, especially my children. I hope I can become more wise in making my decisions and in giving advice to others. I hope I can still have some fun. I hope my life on earth will not go to waste. Speaking of which.. I think I'll go read a book.

stapelei

Went to send Nadhrah for her P1 orientation yesterday. Alhamdulillah, she likes her new school and the new building.
My only concern now is her Arabic (and Eema's for that matter). Truth be told, we hardly speak arabic at home, except when greeting, baca doa makan/tidur, solat, doa. So now I'm panicking. I'm looking for a FEMALE arabic tutor who can come 3 times a week to our house at the ulu place. I hope I can confirm one by this week.

While in school, I also collected Eema's tudung. She already has 3 from last year. 1 is a bit torn, the other two.. well that's not enough, based on last 2 years experience. Eema comes home from school each day like we're doing some detergent commercial. Almost every single day she comes home with some stain on her light yellow tudung. One day it'll be some sambal stain, the next day chocolate, and then mud.. (mud? how did mud get on her tudung? don't know).. then pencil or pen stains and at other times, unexplainable ones. So much so that, we'd be surprised if she actually comes back with a stainless tudung. She's so cute.
Her track pants are also always torn at the knee area. Even though she says she didn't fall or anything. That's just the way she is.

After the whole school thing, I sent Nadhrah home and went out again to (hopefully) look for a shoe rack. I went to Tanglin Mall, where I was quite sure I would NOT find, a or the, shoe rack that I want. But I went there anyway, because they have many many cute, artistic, stuff there, and it's been a while since I last went there.

As expected, I didn't get the shoe rack. Instead, I got this toy for myself.

It's called stapelei - and that's german for 'stack' It's a cute game toy made from wood. Instruction as follows:
STACK

A game of skill for 1 - 4 players aged 4 - 99 (which qualifies ME.)

Contents :
1 donkey (small wooden one, not real)
40 sticks (in four colours)
1 sugar cube (small wooden one also, not real)
1 set of game instructions

Aim of the game:
Who has a steady hand and is the first to be able to place all their sticks on the back of the donkey?
Beware : Nothing must fall off while piling up the sticks.

Preparation:
Put the donkey in the center of the table. (a steady one, if I might add) Each player takes all the sticks of one color. If there are less than four players, the remaining sticks are kept in the tin.
You don't need the sugar cube for the basic game.

How to play :
Play in a clockwise direction (but who cares if we want to play in an anti-clockwise direction?). Whoever has already seen a real donkey may start the game. (if everyone at the table has seen a real donkey, then whoever saw it most recently can start. Or if nobody at the table has seen a donkey in their lives, then the last one who saw it on TV. If that still fails, then consider a horse instead.)
Take one of your sticks and place it carefully on the back of the donkey. Be careful that the stick doesn't fall off. You did it? Well done. Now it's the next player's turn. (this almost reminds me of Japanese instructions in English.. it would sound something like this, only with broken english and wrong spellings)
If however, one of more sticks fall off the donkey's back, you have to take them and add them to yours. Then it's the next player's turn.

End of Game:
The game ends as soon as any player has put their last stick on the donkey, thereby winning the game.

Variation:
For younger players.
Younger players take fewer sticks (e.g. six per player)
For less than four players
If there are less than four players, the remaining sticks can be distributed amongst them.
For especially skillful and daring players (like me)
The game becomes more difficult when you place the sugar cube on the back of the donkey before piling up the sticks. You can place either the larger side of the cube on the back of the donkey or, to make it really wobbly, the smaller side.

Yup.. that's it. It's quite a simple game. And I have it in my bag.
So next time any of you meet me for a drink, ask me and we can also play Stapelei. :)

a LIVE demo

So I was at BK with Pink, to pass her, the wedding pics. I was carrying my Panasonic Toughbook in my unzipped bag.

As we sat, I put my bag down on the chair. "WOAH!!", I yelled, drawing the attention of many patrons at BK, as my bag ACCIDENTALLY toppled and out came my Toughbook onto the hard hard floor. People must be gasping, as I picked the thing up and they realise it's a laptop. I said out (loud) to Pink, so that all around can hear, "Phew.. it's ok, it's a Toughbook." (partly also to cover balik my paisehness).

But then I saw that one side of the battery was half way out, while the other side was still nestled in its place. I tried to take the battery out gently. It's stuck. Pink said I should try yanking it out. I tried.. i guess my yanking was not strong enough. As a last resort, I knocked hard on the battery, to put it back in its place. It did, with a loud 'plank!', as though to create a dramatic sound effect. (shutz)

Then, I coolly put the toughbook back on the table, aware that some eyes are on me the Toughbook, waiting to see if it still works. I turned it on, and voila! It did! Phew!!

Man.. I just did my company a favour, by doing a real LIVE demo on its product.

Actually this is the 2nd (ACCIDENTAL) LIVE demo. The first one was at the office, when I ACCIDENTALLY spilled water all over the opened and turned-on laptop. For that one, we had to dry it, inside out, and it came back on, fully functional, 1.5 days later.

migraine

I'm getting a migraine. I think i'm trying to accomplish too much in perfection, in one day. I've done quite a number of items from my to do list, but still a couple more, which includes doing budgeting tonight. I should never plan to do the budgeting and bills payment, together with some other tasks. See, by the time I get to this task, which in itself is quite stressful (trying to keep everything within budget), i'm already all worked up.

And there's some BBQs going on downstairs, and a kid couldn't stop shouting and/or crying! which is making the migraine worse. I had to resort to turning on some music that will drown out those shouts. Not the most ideal situation. Oh, yes, this is one the -ve things about this new house.. when some kid decides to shout or cry downstairs at the pool, i can hear every word, from my room.

Hah.. letting it out, here.. seem to help a bit :) I've just downed a panadol.

I think I'm not going to do this budgeting thing tonight. I think I'm just going to forget my tasks for today and just relax. Enough for today.

I want to enjoy the weekend.

day off

I love rainy mornings when I'm home. Alhamdulillah.

I read in the papers today that the Singapore Flyer got stucked yesterday, for 5 hours! Apparently, it happened before.. just earlier this month. Now I'll know what to do the next time I plan on going on the Singapore Flyer. I'll get a book, some snacks and some drinks ready - just in case I get stuck up there for 5 hours.. at least I can enjoy myself, reading the book and having a good view. A mat would be nice too, but it's quite clean in the cabin.. you can sit on the floor.



Last night, we were at this restaurant called 'Badoque' and it's at Simpang Bedok. The food was ok, but we had more fun with the names of their coffee. Their range of coffee was under the title 'Hot Joe'.. Joe referring to the coffee. Then they have.. Joe Tos - for cappucino and Joe Ngang for mocha.. etc. Fiza ordered Joe Tos for Aida.. and the clueless Filipino waitress asked, 'You want your joe tos now or later?' We told her to let Aida finish her ice cream first.

We were laughing away and I felt bad for the Filipino waitress who must have had no idea what the word means in Malay. So I explained to her. I wonder if she'll think twice, the next time she wants to ask her customers, 'do you want your joetos now or later?'