Life's a Journey

I am recently hooked up with a game called Virtual Villagers. Accidentally found it on a website and download it just for fun. Turned out it's a "hooking" game. Unlike other strategy games I have played, this is the best one so far. Below is the excerpt from the official website about this game: Virtual Villagers is a village simulator where you care for and nurture a tribe of little people by teaching them the basics of survival. The object of the game is to grow a small village in your computer: your little villagers need to become farmers, builders, researchers, and parents and make decisions on unpredictable island events! As the village grows and prospers, the villagers become curious about their mysterious island home and the secrets it holds. Aside from guiding the villagers' day-to-day lives, the player helps them to explore and restore the island. I had the game installed on my PC during the puasa month. Every time before going to bed and after sahur, I wi...

I have a confession to make. I am enjoying every moment as a LADY OF LEISURE now. For those who have been in the boat, they know what I mean. I guess I would also share the same feelings as those who married the Datuks -- like Datin Siti N. Ever since the Day ZERO has passed, I haven't been fully adjusted to the manage-my-own-time freedom. Hence, not so much has been completed, as planned. However, I should be fully recovered soon. After 8 years of slavering -- being a kuli -- I now have the steering wheel. I am my new CEO. I know the tide is going to hit soon and I better start my engine now. I still have a long journey. The second phase of my life. The moment to start my own business, building my own empire has come. Cut cost, save money -- my next 5 years chant.

Today is the last day of THE COUNTDOWN. Still vague of what's in front of me. Still not sure which spot to step on to avoid the obstacles. The journey is still long, the road winded, the destination is final. I will take the step, one by one.

I found an interesting article from a forwarded email. Below is the said article: DID I MARRY THE RIGHT PERSON? During one of our seminars, a woman asked a common question. She said,"How do I know if I married the right person?" I noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so I said, "It depends. Is that your husband?" In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?" Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind. Here's the answer. EVERY relationship has a cycle. In the beginning, you fell in love with your spouse. You anticipated their call, wanted their touch, and liked their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love with your spouse wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called "falling" in love... Because it's happening TO YOU. People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of...

I haven't been updating my blog for quite some times. Very the busy. Now, I am officially shipped to MATRADE, for don't know how long. Most probably until December this year, if I last that long. I think I've had put up enough politics, I can't hold anymore. Just waiting for THE BOND to end. I get really pissed off when Mak Nenek can go without having to complete the bond term, most probably "overlooked" by the LADY BOSS. Freakin' pissed!!! Also having to put up with the customers' craps daily, PRICELESS!! What I want now is having more time to myself and my babies (including Baby Tua). And at the same time I would want to earn money too. Am looking into knocking opportunities but still have not decided what. Am going to meet my ex-boss for an opportunity but I am going to set him straight with my priorities and all. Going towards the FINAL COUNTDOWN in 20 days...

I read an email sent by an ex-schoolmate this morning. How interestingly true that men and women do mean different things when they say the same words. Here are some of the excerpts from that email: "Men and women seldom mean the same things when they use the same words. For example, when a woman says "I feel like you never listen", she does not expect the word never to be taken literally. Using the word never is just a way of expressing the frustration she is feeling at the moment. It is not to be taken as if it were factual information. To fully express their feelings, women assume poetic license and use various superlatives, metaphors and generalizations. Men mistakenly take these expressions literally. Because they misunderstand the intended meaning, they commonly react in an unsupportive manner. " Maybe not all of you go through this but I know I definitely have experienced some of them in my marriage life. Listed below are some of the phrases literally meant b...

Last Wednesday I was stuck at a friend's office due to a very heavy rain. While killing the time, I picked up the Tuesday's copy of The Sun newspaper. I found a very interesting article from HSBC. The title of the arcticle is "12 Ways to Make RM 1 million" (although it's actually 8 - maybe they took away another 4 for later). I took an effort to type out the ways, for my future reference and also for sharing it in my blog. This one's for you bloggers; Ask RM10 from 100,000 people you know. Considering the number of people you will get to know in your lifetime, this does not sound as ridiculous as it seems. Think franchise. Trying to sell 1,000 packets of nasi lemak daily in one location may be a stretch. But if you have 10 locations selling 100 packs, it begins to sound possible. If you net a profit of RM 1 per pack, all it takes is three years to become a nasi lemak millionaire. Pay yourself first. Make it a standing in...

We all just came back from the Langwaki Island yesterday. It was Adik's first flight trip, yay!! The day we took off, we missed the flight that we were suppposed to take. How frustrating. the LCC Terminal still needs some brush ups. The flight display information is not reflecting the current flight info. I guess thats why we missed the flight. So anyway, we managed to sqeezed ourselves on the last flight to Langkawi. By the time we landed, it was almost 6 p.m. We had to take the rental car, it wasn't part of the original plan. But after looking at the resort, we decided that we need a rental car that night for dinner. Adik was down with fever, and there goes our first 2 days in Langkawi. The resort was OK. Fatin called it "hotel kampung". The Kampung Tok Senik Resort was truly a kampung experience to the detail interior items. You can surely find kampung experience such as bumping into a biawak (forgot the English name) on your way out for breakfast. I think it was ...

The traffic lights in Padang Kota was broken last night. I called a colleague on the way to work and she told me that it was still broken this morning. And the security guy is manning the traffic. So I decided to take the highway and took the Damansara exit. As I was waiting for the crawl before the Damansara toll booth, the Kancil in front of me was sliding backward. I honked him. Luckily his car doesn't kiss mine. Then I noticed there's a "Olynayie" at the back of the Kancil. Hmm...thats sounds like a combination name of a guy and a girl. I remembered a conversation I has with a friend about putting the girl's name on a car. We always assumed that it's the owner's girlfriend's name, if the driver is a guy. But seriously, if you're married, do you think ypur husband will put your name at the back of his car? I have yet to see one. Only unmarried couples do that. The "worshipping" is gone once you're married. Make sense? As I passed t...

As I was driving to my client's site around 9:30 am on last Friday, there was a Volvo S80 with the licence plate of BBB 111 in front of me. It went so slow, as compared to my normal driving rate, so I decided to overtake that car. At the stop light, I looked at my rear view mirror and realised that it was an elderly man who was driving this car. Seated beside him is the wife, I supposed, also an elderly woman. They must be in their 60's. No wonder the car went so leisurely slow. These old couple has no reason to rush off anywhere. A thought came across my mind. Whatever decisions they must have made about 40 year ago are the best for them. Be it business decisions, investment decisions or marry-to-a-millionaire-daughter/son decision must have benefitted them both now. Here they are driving a Volvo S80 with licence plate number BBB 111, (I assumed that the licence plate is bidded for) coming from the Tropicana neighbborhood, enjoying their old age together leisurely and luxurio...

Over the weekends both my kids are having a fever. Miserable weekend. On Sunday, Bibik was on leave wo the kids are with me and Hubby 100%. Come today, both were clinging on to me. I had to be early today since we have a meeting with THE BOSS at 7:45 in the morning. That's miserable too. Syabil is getting more mischievous. Nama pon anak lelaki kan. Few months back I bought for him this big yellow truck -- "Bob the Builder" style. He seems to be not interested with his new toy. I just couldn't care less because I thought he might not be interested in it now but later as he grow older, he will like playing with it, just like the other boys. A few weeks back, I spent time with him in Fatin's room. I kinda noticed that he was actually playing with Fatin's kitchen set. One thing caught my attention, as he was busy doing his "cooking", he actually stir his pot and had a taste with his spatula. And continued back "cooking". Wow!!!... I wonder wher...

Petrol price just hiked up another RM0.30 per liter. And the government is always blaming on the burden of subsidiary given to rakyat. I find it very doubtful though. And the statistics will always compare our petrol price to the prices in our neighboring countries. How we still enjoy low prices as compared to our neighbours. And I think that statistic is just trying to bodohkan rakyat Malaysia. It is not a direct 1:1 comparison. Maybe to those who do not have economic background can be fooled. Most Malaysians are smarter these days. The statistics shall not fool them. Our fellow Malaysians just don't like open outraged protests like our counterparts from other neighboring countries. Our "tak apa" attitude is being exploited by the Malaysian government to hike up prices as they deemed appropriate. Malaysia Boleh!! My salary remains, my mileage claim per km also remains. And up to now, gaji pon belum masuk.

I attended this seminar yesterday. Fulfilling, informative and very aspiring. Saw a couple off people I knew; Norsiah and Kak Ita. Basically the speakers talked about working from home. Typically it means you have to start and operate business from home. It has becoming a common goal for career women I knew, including myself. I guess we have different priorities as we grew "wiser". I wonder if there are companies in Malaysia actually hiring their resources to work from home. I posed the question to the floor, and the lady speaker replied. Somehow the idea of working from home is still something alien to the Malaysian employers. But she also mentioned that sometimes the companies, usually not Malaysian based, do advertise on the newspaper about these contractual home-based positions. Come to think of it, I wonder if my current company would hire people to work home-based. Perhaps I should propose the idea. I knew somebody in my company is given the privelege of working from h...

I have been very busy lately after thas he new project has started. It has been a rolling ball since. And I don't have time to even update my blog nowadays. Yesterday was Syabil's 1st birthday. Wished him in the morning. How time flies. I can still remember the whole experience while giving birth to him. As if it was only a week ago. Hmm...no idea to continue. Got so many things on my mind nowadays. To be continued...

I went bloghopping this afternoon. Stumbled upon Sis Ninuk's and IbuVogue's blogs. The main stories in these 2 blogs are the same - anak. It seems like the mothers are active web bloggers. A therapeutic experience. Wonderful! Am into web blogging myself. Finally I managed to put my thoughts in writing and my English back on track. The only thing that annoys me when typing is the jumpy keyboard. The cursor seems to be jumping everywhere and I always have to retype my sentences.

This morning I dreadfully woke Fatin up, knowing deep in my heart that she will not give up easily. And I was right. The moment she opened up her eyes, she asked me "Nak pegi mana?" And I said "Sekolah laa..hari ni kan hari Isnin". And she started crying and crying. Hubby tried to sweet-talk her. Slowly persuading her to take shower and get dress. And she kept on refusing. Until we had to take a drastic measure. Hubby said, "Kalau tak pegi sekolah, no cartoon". And he went on fuddling with thet Astro remote control. This morning we learned how to set a pin to the channels to control viewing. This morning we exercise our parental rights. Looking at me, she cried harder. And at that time it was already 8 am. Hubby tried to pujuk again and this time he promised that Ayah and Ummi will be there with her in her class. I had to sms my PM and told her that I will be on emergency leave this morning and will only be in the office after lunch. Then she said, "A...

Today is the third day of school. And guess what? Fatin is absent. Why? For some reasons she just didn't feel like going to school today. This morning she woke up a bit early than the last 2 days. Usually she gets to continue her sleep but today she had to wake up for school. With not-so-good mood, she got dressed up. Nak jadi sebab, her pink shades patah. And she started crying telling me Adik yang patahkan. Padahal Adik (the innocent) tak kacau pon cermin mata tuh. And the crying continues when she got scolded from me for hitting Adik (the innocent, again). And the merajuk started. After Hubby got down, the sobbing goes on. When Hubby asked what was wrong, the crying started to get louder. Sedih la tuh. So we managed to get her inside the car. It was around 8:15 a.m. at that time. So we went to school. Both myself and her got off and went inside the school compound. Tiba-tiba, she grabbed my hands and pull me off to the car and started crying and said she didn't want to go t...

Today is Fatin's first day of school. I am so excited!! We woke her up around 7:15 am. She asked me what day it is. I told her it's Wednesday! And she woke up with excitement, "Ari nih Atin sekolah". We dressed her up with her green pant suit (courtesy by Opah Haji) and socks and school shoes. Tied up her hair in 2 tiny pony tails. We even took pictures of her with her Chicky school bag. She looks so grown up. And we were off to her school. When we got there, not so many parents were there. We were wondering where are all these parents? Hubby made a conclusion that most parents must have sent their kids to the nursery. So starting kindy next door is not such a big deal to them. After salam-ing with me and Hubby, Fatin was off inside. She was so excited (I guess because she didn't turn back to us) and got over to her friends and was shown upstairs to the classes. And left us there, looking at where she was before she got off upstairs. We went back to the car, ...