Whirlwind weekend

Its not often that i go anywhere without the family. i'm too much of a worry-wart to leave the people under my care on their own for too long & too comfortable a 'katak-bawah-tempurung' to take on the world alone lol. but sometimes the work demands that i leave, and leave i must even if it is with a heavy heart.

The jabatan seem to be pretty serious about implementing the 5ses and had arranged a 3-day working trip (6 - 8th Feb) to jkr kelantan for the lot of us to check on how the people down there (or is it up?) were doing it. jkr kelantan had already obtained their 5s certification last year and was actually in the midst of their annual audit at the time of our visit.



Turns out our group from bkub had the largest number of representatives, probably bcos our place is a nightmare of files, documents & paperwork (what do you expect from a section that churns out tenders & contracts almost on a daily basis?). bkub alone formed an additional convoy of 4 SUVs.


1 plus 4.

We assembled early saturday morning right in front of the state secretariat and pushed off as scheduled. the route of choice was gua musang and it made me a little sad that bcos of time constraint, i couldnt peek in on the cikgu when we stopped for coffee break right beside institut perguruan tengku afzan, kuala lipis. it would have been nice to sneak a hug from the cikgu.. this mama missed her huggable muggable teddy ;D


The feisty beaver in Kuala Lipis.. 'me likeee your slippers' !!

The restaurant owner was chummy with this cute little beaver and while we enjoyed our hot kopi kaw & frothy teh tariks, he became the centre of atrraction with his funny little antics .



Cooling off at Masjid Kg Keroh, Kuala Krai.

Stops were made only for solat & nature calls and we made it to kota bharu by 4pm.

So started a series of briefings & taklimats.. and a hefty dose of makan2 and ronda2 lol. sadly, the schedule was pretty tight and w/out my own wheels i couldnt go about as i would have wished. since golfman is temangan born (with MIL hailing from ketereh & FIL from peringat), it would have been nice to drop in on a few makciks & pakciks.. and i was also itching to breeze over to pakmat's at bachok and catch up on the latest. tapi apa kan daya, it'll have to wait till next time.

The BRIEFINGS & VISITS..

Masjid Jubli Perak aka Masjid 3 Benua, Rantau Panjang.


A small token of appreciation to our gracious hosts for the talk & tour.


The exterior & interior of Masjid 3 Benua.

Ferry Operation, JKR Unit Feri Pengkalan Kubor.


An enlightening Operations brief by the unit chief. did you know the captain of the ferry is called a 'serang'?


Entrance to Pengkalan Kubor Jetty & the equivalent in Tak Bai.


Border Stations @ Pengkalan Kubor & Tak Bai respectively (with yours truly & her anak buahs lol).


The JKR ferry steadfastly chug chugging along.


Malaysian Ferry alongside the Thai Ferry.


The Malaysian Jetty & Thai Jetty

Taklimat 5S JKR Kelantan, Kota Bharu.


The briefing @ the conference room was to a full house.


The PP presentation.


The office rounds.


Sudut 5s - BKUB, JKR Kelantan


The extensive taggings & labellings.. even for the light fixtures!!

The MAKAN2.. yummy!!


Other than the usual nasi kerabu & nasi berlauk, theres also nasi tumpang.


Popia stadium & pulut mangga.


The refreshments provided.. one of many.


Serunding of hajjah wan sabariah @ pasir mas.

And the RONDA2 ;p


The Sitting Buddha.


The Sleeping Buddha


Sunny day @ Rantau Panjang


Teman sekenderaan ku ;p


Business is brisk here in kelantan.

Of course theres no end to shopping opportunities when theres places like pasar siti khadijah, wisma mpkb, wakaf che yeh, pengkalan kubor, rantau panjang to name a few.. so it wouldnt be of any surprise that we left kelantan with hardly any legroom left (or headroom either lol) in our respective vehicles hehehe.


The fruits of our labour.. eh bukan labour, ronda2 lol!!

It was indeed a whirlwind weekend hehehe :D

Light at the end of the tunnel

We usually wait till something drastic happens before considering change, any kind of change. most of us are just 'happy' the way we are (or just too full of excuses).

I've been going on and on and on about adopting a healthier lifestyle with the kiddoes but its been falling on to deaf ears. yeah i know... the arrogance of youth, the innocence of the young etc etc. but i wish they would get off their butts more instead of constantly flexing & building the muscles of their gaming fingers. these days you need to be fit & healthy to counter the side-effects of modern living. theres just too much food, too much stress, too much of everything. and somewhere in the depths of my heart i deeply regret my failure to provide them with a more active environment when they were much younger.. even though at that time, their respective medical conditions didnt allow it. i should have made the extra effort to somehow factor it in, so that when the worse was over and they proceeded with a normal life, being active came as naturally as breathing.

But the past is past and theres nothing like the present so i'm still hoping to get thru. and recently i noticed the awakening of a certain awareness. AH's been swimming (read: goofing at the pool but at least its something lol) every friday for quite a while now and on top of that, she also seem to have picked up skating!! hah at least that'll help to balance up her long hours in front of the laptop.



And the cikgu. well, cikgu has advanced in leaps & bounds and recently completed his maiden 22km cycling trail, caya laa!!! keep it up and insyallah, you'll be looking mighty fit & trim when the time comes for you to be popping the 'Q' ;D



So now we have AI, who amongst the 3, was the only one willing to be coerced into becoming my 'teman' back in those days when i was still jogging along the roads of my neighbourhood (before the scary monkey incident lol). but now, he is also the only one who is still resisting any form of working out (except for those tummy crunchers).


Nostalgia - Shah Alam 10k 2005 with the long suffering AI by my side heheh.

Jom la nak.. come be my running buddy la :D


Workout
AM - 3k maintenance/TSA
PM - 50 mins aerobics masalla/NRG

Braving the 'super' highways

I seldom venture out of my comfort zone. these days managing the household & my erratic moods is enough to leave me exhausted by day's end.

But goodwill needs to be fostered and bonds, strengthen so i made a pack with AH to brave the unknown (gombak je hehehe but i wasnt sure of the way) to attend the wedding reception of my SIL's younger bro. cikgu didnt come home for the weekend and topman had gone to lendu for an orientation session with the juniors so that just left the two of us females.


Wedding reception of Fandi & Diana - semoga bahagia hingga ke akhir hayat!

The Destination : somewhere in gombak.

The Problem: expected jam due to Taipusam.

The Solution: avoid the usual route & use DUKE instead.

Hahaha.. ayam kampung masuk bandar. i was so scared of mixing up & missing the exits that i was hyperventilating most of the way lol. but my bros had earlier assured me, they'd come get me if i got lost. so, it actually wasnt so bad la.. its just me being my usual 'gabra' self lol.

We made it there without a hitch and being with my other family turned out to be just what i needed.


The other half of my family.


Catching up with the latest.


My stepmom & her two sisters.


Me & my only sister :)


Priceless isnt she - my niece Fifie & future runner lol

After the wedding they dragged me back to S's house (the eldest bro with my other family) somewhere in bukit antarabangsa i think. i havent been visiting since he moved quite a while ago... instead, i've been bullying them to come see me!! evil elder sistah, arent i lol.

We cooked, ate, goofed around and ate summore. yup we had lots of fun :D

Weh bros... make the BBQ happen k & remember, lotsa lotsa lamb. we're all hantu kambing after all lol ;D


Workout
AM - 4k maintenance run/TSA

"I'm pregnant!"

Hah.. got you there didnt i? quite an attention grabbing title to appear on the blog of an almost 50 yr old makcik aight lol.



Nah, so far so good. golfman & me havent had any accidents lately and we sure hope God in all his mercy havent got anything of that nature lined up for us (gawd, imagine lugging baby bags & napkins at my age!). not unless its the 'cucu' kind of course lol.

Its just that here at the office, i'm completely surrounded by pregnant anak buahs. last year a whole bunch of them got themselves hitched and this year we're seeing the result of all their hardwork hehehe. bosses as well as colleagues are turning hormonal on the rest of us and we're not just talking about the 'newly-weds' either. some of the senior akak's got themselves all worked up & also decided to jump onto the bandwagon.

Could it be theres something in the air *sniffing about warily*

Hehehe.. but as they say the more the merrier ;D

Pictured here are 4 out of the 6 weddings of my officemates.









Most are now preggies ;D oh and lets not forget about the inspired akaks as well. in total there are now 7 expecting mummies here in BKUB Selangor.

Ooooh the stork is going to be busy busy busy this year thats for sure!!

Abe - bila la agaknye kita nak menimang cucu ni ek *wink wink*


Workout Log
AM - 4k maintenance run/TSA

Older, yes but wiser?

Whenever i have the misfortune of bumping into a mature, suave, smooth-talking con-man i'm always left with this distasteful feeling in my mouth and all i want to do is spit it out, ptui ptuii ptuiii!!!

It really disturbs me that at that age, when he should know better and already heading for the path of attonement & redemption, he's still at it without a care in the world. has he really lost all respect of himself & others?

We were at the putra station sunday nite sending off the cikgu. he'd taken to coming home by express bus instead of driving his car. i really dont mind bcos he gets to rest & there's less for me to worry about.

Our goodbyes said, the three of us made our way back to our parked car. and just as we were about to leave, this well-dressed man (probably in his late 40's) suddenly appeared from nowhere and knocked on my window. if i didnt have my other son with me i wouldnt have given him the time of day but he did have this embarrassed, segan, i-shouldnt-be-doing-this look on his face. so i allowed a small gap to open up for us to hear whatever it is he desperately wanted to say to us.

The moment he opened his mouth we were about 97% certain he was out to con us. he went on & on & on about being robbed by hooligans at the surau & that he had to make it to some place or other bcos he's sedara was already at his deathbed & that he had to, just had to be there before it was all too late, and if not bangsa kita tak tolong siapa lagi nak tolong.. and all that he needed was RM18 for the bus ticket.

I glanced at my children and saw the same look of distaste & disbelief reflected in their eyes and i knew then that our collective guards were up. the very fact that he kept repeating himself over & over again eroded the credibility of his story.

But then theres still that 3% possibility that however incredulous & stupid it might all sound, it may also be true. and if it was me in his position, i'd be eternally grateful for a little help from others.

And with that in mind, i shoved RM15 over to him. why 15 & not the full 18? now that i think about it, i'm not so sure.. maybe it was in porportion with the trust factor. maybe i wanted him to know that i didnt really believe him but i'm still doing my part in helping him out anyway.. the rest is between him & God.

Upon getting the money he just up & left us in a hurry.

By then we were all freaking out and i drove off as fast as i could.

I didnt sleep too well that nite.. my head was too full of bad guys out to get me lol. one tends to be a little bit more vulnerable than usual when they dont have their husband around to rely on.

Moving on.. today i feel so much better after huffing & puffing it all out in the AM & PM ;D

Abe - see, the things i get myself into when you're not around!! i need you home la mitter ;p

Workout Log
AM - 3k/25mins/TSA
PM - 4.5k/40mins/Gym

Picking up the pace

I think i'm suffering from post-audit trauma (sirim this time - the 'mother lode' of all audits) bcos everything seem to be passing me by in slow mo!!!!

Heheheh... anything for an excuse eh ;p

Theres just too much uncertainty for me to come up with even a ghost of a plan for 2010, so much so that my brain's gone to sleep on me i think lol

We knew from as early as last year that AH would be going for plkn bcos wonder of wonders, her name had popped up on the dreaded list (i have 2 boys but they want my only bongsu girl? how unfair is that?). but unfortunately to this very date, we're still in the dark as to where & when she's supposed to be going. yes, she wasnt called up when the 1st group started their session that much is certain but until today plkn has not released the list for group 2 & 3. which could mean that she'd have to go either in april or july, which could also mean an overlapping of activities bcos thats the time when the spm results will be released and the mad scury for college will begin.




(plkn pics googled randomly)

Aargh.. which has flushed most of my earlier plans down the drain (including those of joining the golfman) and is leaving me with a truckload of 'what ifs' & 'maybes'.

But i guess its just another one of 'em glitches in the life of JT so i shouldnt be complaining. after all, kita hanya merancang ;D

Gawd i still wish AH didnt have anything to do with this plkn sh*t. i'd be missing the spunky miss a whole bunch for sure.. AND worrying my head off :(


Workout Log
PM - 4.2km/40mins/about 400cals
Would you believe, AH huffed & puffed along with me at the gym tonite!! so with cikgu cycling up & down the hilly trails of lipis, that leaves just the topman... so, what say u Mr. AI? ;p

The demons

What do you do when you need to chase away those demons off your back?



You run!!! not run as in running away with your tail between your legs.. but RUN!!

Yup, pound the pavement or treadmill and with each stride you make, feel the burden getting lighter and each lungful of air, feel it cleanse your body & soul.

Then let the zikir engulf and calm you.

I'll survive this insyallah :D

Asphyxiated

... aaargghh!!

Empty Nest

Having a huge part of my duties taken away from me is making me feel a little disoriented, a little unsure and quite frankly, a little worthless.

With the husband away & managing the household on my own, my responsibilities span a broad spectrum. a big chunk of it is about school & keeping an eagle eye on the kids so that they dont mess up their lives too badly or end up making stupid monkeys of themselves.

Now that spm's over and AH's out of school i'm already feeling the difference. this year i DO NOT have to fuss over school uniforms, books or bags, i DO NOT have to suffer the monotony of PTA/PIBG meetings and i DO NOT have to keep track of classes, tuitions & practices. i can now stop planning meetings around her schedule and cancelling appoinments bcos something unexpected happened in school.

With so much taken off my hands, why do i suddenly feel so bereft?

After deliberating over the matter, i've come to realise that maybe i needed the endless activities, the constant demands on my time & attention. maybe i needed to keep busy. after all, nobody in their right mind would actually want to be separated from their other half, for whatever the reason. going about life a broken part of a complete whole isnt fun at all. and problem is, there might even come a time when whatever's broken would remain broken and nothing the king's horses nor the king's men could ever do to mend it again. god forbid that it should ever happen though.

Before long AH too will be off to college, following in the footsteps of her bros. will i then just docilely allow the empty nest sydrome to engulf me? heck, i dont think so!!

Truth be told i'm slowly going crazy here. i sooo need to re-evaluate & redefine myself right now.

The move

When we got back last week we were all racked with sore throat & coughs, each in varying degrees of severity. we were probably not used to the cold as well as the dryness of a heated indoor environment... and our bodies reacted accordingly.

Before school reopened, Cikgu was to vacate his teacher's housing and move into his new digs within the school compound. he's now some sort of a warden's apprentice. i'm pretty happy with the new arrangement bcos thinking of him travelling back & forth along the gua musang highway fills me with a certain trepidation. that route is frequented by lorries & express buses going faster than a ferrari (an old one la lol).

Bcos none of us was really feeling on top of the weather, we decided to pull our collective resources together and help the Cikgu out. late wednesday afternoon, we left for kuala lipis in a 2 car convoy (the man was still home & i was still on leave). we actually started out more worried about the Cikgu than anything else (he was purging badly at that time) so AI took over the wheels and was leading the way. but fate would have it, it wasnt the boys who needed help but us!!!

Everything was hunky dory to start with but just as we were climbing up the hill towards the tunnel of genting sempah, golfman suddenly noticed the slight rise in the car's temperature indicator and just as he was commenting on it, within that split second, it immediately hit the red mark!! we were completely blindsided.. it happened without any warning. immediately, we pulled over by the side of the road, just a couple of metres from the entrance of the tunnel. believe me, it wasnt the safest of positions to be in, with the almost non-existent road shoulder and the cars & lorries whizzing by.


Having to stop right at the tunnel entrance.

We were driving my car and it had never, ever, done this before. completely nonplussed we did the only thing we could - call in the breakdown professionals, AAM. so while golfman sorted it all out, the boys who had gotten to the other side of the tunnel, were asked to wait.


The Ronda people to the rescue.. they were on the scene pretty quick.


The first tow was up to the gombak toll.

After a lot of initial confusion (one minute golfman wanted the boys to continue, the next they were to take AH along, then maybe both AH & me), it was finally decided that the 'overheated' car would be towed to our mechanic in glenmarie while AH & me were to continue the journey with the boys. after settling everything, golfman would then get his car from home and try to catch up with us.


Riding in the backseat of a scary 'driverless' car.

I wasnt too keen with the idea of him driving all by himself but after seeing both AH & me ride the towed car up to the gombak toll, he thought it best to handle it alone (it was kinda complicated.. the ronda truck towed us to the toll & from there the AAM truck towed the car back to APD).

We made our way to Lipis without further mishap (the boys had me drive, the lazy bums lol) and we were joined by golfman as we were having dinner at the Lipis club.

But little did we know that waiting for us was a house full of dust and... eewww, mildew!! tsk tsk tsk, Cikgu must've been in quite a hurry to leave.

Cleaning up and helping him move proved to be quite a task, what with all the dust, the clutter and having to carry all his stuff from the 5th floor.. adik2 pun sampai naik semput. you owe us BIG boy!!

We came back with flu much aggravated by all the dusting & cleaning but beyond all that, i was actually quite esctatic. no, the dust didnt go straight to my head lol (although theres a high possibility that some sort of spora is now residing in my lungs). we found out that currently, his group of cikgu friends were into biking and doing the jungle trails of lipis!! its been forever that i've been pushing Cikgu to work out (he's been putting on quite a bit of weight) but to no avail.. now probably we'll be seeing some change, insyallah :)

As of yesterday, i received an sms telling me he'd just come back from a biking session with the boys and was basking in the adrenaline rush. and he's also excited about getting a second hand bike.. one of the teacher's wanted to upgrade to a better one.

Hah at last. you've made me a very happy mama.. tapi jangan setakat hot2 chicken shit ya Cikgu ;)

Oh btw, would you believe that the mechanics didnt find anything at all wrong with the car? no leaky or busted radiator, or compressor or nothing.. everything's working fine & dandy. the most they could offer by way of explanation was maybe a quirky indicating sytem. which actually isnt much of a comfort to me bcos what they cant find, they cant fix and i'm left with a car that i cant totally depend on.

Well just another thing to worry about.

2010

This time i usher in the new year with mixed feelings.. theres a certain anxiety in here somewhere, along with the excitement of a fresh new start. i love the optimism & the hope that a new year brings. its an opportunity to right the wrongs, to improve, to do better.. regardless of the outcome, we always begin the year with good intentions.

Its a little different for 2010 bcos it also marks the last of my 40's. yup, i'll be joining the ranks of the big five-oh next year and to be honest, the prospect sorta scares me. for one, i'm sure it'll herald the beginning of great changes both physically & mentally... for another, i really dont know if i'll be able to conduct myself with the grace & dignity expected of people that age.

I've always been the female version of a 'bull in a china shop' lol and a 'misfit' in social functions.

Just have to make the most of my 40's then aight ;D


At Topkapi Palace with the Bosphorus in the background, the waterways separating the european & asian sides.

Best wishes from the AA family... hope we all have a blessed year ahead!!