After doing a cross-island office tour, at the invite of my supervisor and to accompany the visiting HR big dog, we rushed out to the world's biggest turning wheel, the Flyer.
It's tall, it's huge, it's humongous. It's the tallest man-made object down here, or so it seems. I didn't bring any measurement devices to compare the height with a couple of nearby tall towers. How lucky we were that it was a clear and bright evening, and we got to see, everything downtown, the sea and lots of flats and apartments. That's how big the land is down here.
Okay, so I got to ride it for free, and I'm not gonna complain. I did have a good time, I've always loved looking at the Earth from up above, an aerial view of things I'd normally see at ground level. Plus I get to gel with my new colleagues during the ride and the office dinner which was nothing to shout about by the way, the grilled tuna was dry and the rest, I couldn't eat a pinch. The cranberry juice gave me a bad headache later that night. Anyway, that was made up by a couple of drunk colleagues. Oh, and a couple of hot young things on tight baby T's and skimpy hot pants that could very well be boy-shorts worked our group up all the way. I guess, it wasn't that boring after all.
On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend the ride if you have kids in tow like I do, two rambunctious and boisterous boys who can't sit still for more than 2 minutes. 5 minutes, tops. It takes 30 minutes to complete the ride, at a slow and very smooth sweep of the skyline. It's best if you're planning for a romantic evening, newlyweds or otherwise. Be forewarned that it costs a bomb to get on that. If I can recall, that's about 20+ dollars per adult and slightly less than that for kids.
By the time dinner was over and the post-dinner get drunk session was done, it was almost half past nine. I dreaded taking the free shuttle to the nearest transit station, which will cost me another 1+ hour of my time to get home. I decided to take the taxi, which meant a quicker trip by more than 30 minutes, and way expensive because we're still in the CBD. They have this complex way of setting the taxi fare: location, time of the day, congestion charges, types of car. The last one, I didn't realize until I got on the taxi. Heck, who would've thought a newer sedan will have a slightly higher starting charge than an older one? Isn't that supposed to be meant for a bigger MPV or van, or the Mercs? Pay lah, what else is there for me?
Ni belum lagi cerita pasal the driver. Efficient and willing to take the fastest route, or so he claimed. Yet, very opinionated especially towards some of the non-faired locals. Oh well, the things you get to see, meet and listen to.
Got in at 8.45 this morning, on purpose heheh.. There's an office-do later this evening, so that should count as working hours. There's a team-building of some sort, visiting the largest Ferris wheel, followed by a dinner in the vicinity. The dinner was planned for at a Mexican restaurant but I supposed they don't have any non-red or white-meat. So for today, they've changed the location to a sports bar (bra?) & grill place. Either way, it's fishies and plants for me unless I slide out to the halal eatery next door.
The landlords were home when I got back from the office. They're stopping over for Maghrib and to hand me a few things. Thank God I didn't mess up the place, or else I would've given them second thoughts to having me as a tenant.
The message I got from home this morning: "Ibu, kenapa ibu pakai baju kerja. Adik cuti hari ni, kita nak pergi ambik ayah kan?". Ooppss. We gotta re-word the explanation to him. It's always "Ayah balik rumah bila adik cuti". Today, the two boys are staying at home because my wife is worried about a couple of suspected HFMD cases at the kindy. Amir being Amir, he's thinking that I'll be home today since he's on holiday. It's unconfirmed though, the suspected HFMD cases. It could be normal rashes or fever, but the kindy are not taking any chances and have done a good job of making sure that the toys are cleaned up properly and checking all the kids for signs of the disease. They've been sending out emails to notify parents and ease our fears but the wife is being extra cautious anyway.
That should be manageable, the Amir Confusion Paradox. It's not so much of a problem except to reassure him once in a while of what's going on.
Off to work then, and get my nostrils cleared up. The morning commute was marred by someone who kept farting in the train every 3 stops.
It's Friday again, and my new tour is almost 2 weeks here. Friday also means that I'll be commuting to KL after office, and today I'll be taking an earlier bus. Last week's trip arrived in KL at 1.30am.
What have I learned for the first 10 working days?
1) Moving to a new country is a hassle but no less traumatic than moving to a new home.
2) A new office with a new set of colleagues isn't that traumatizing. You'll learn to adapt to the new surroundings and make new acquaintances.
3) The company's name is daunting, well respected and could bring jitters to newcomers, but it's not as bad as I feared it would do to me. They're not far off from where I was before in terms of working atmosphere, but they do expect you to really outshine when the crunch time arrives.
4) It gets a little lonely once in a while after office, but once you've nailed down the right routine, it is bearable. There's always the weekend trip to look forward to.
I suppose four should be good for now.
Beyond that, I've managed to do things that I rarely would've done back then. I walk a lot more: to work, to lunch, to prayers, to shop. That should be good for my health and minimize the waistline. If before this there was a surau right in front of my room, now I have to walk for 5-7 minutes to the nearest mosque. I get to join the zohor jamaah too, another plus point.
I get to read on the train on the way back. I could try on the mornings too but it's too packed with barely enough elbow room. That brings me to the next point: I get to exercise my eyes a lot more. Enough said haha..
There's always a silver lining to something. You may not see or realize it now, but it'll come up someday. So if you've been thinking about change but are afraid, don't be fearful. Follow your dreams, your instincts, your guts (p/s: it has no correlation with size). Have faith and belief that Allah will show you the way. InsyaAllah, if it's meant to happen, it will happen.
Finally, the locals here. They don't just invent and define the word 'kiasu'. They embrace it, regardless of age, sex and brain capacity.
Posted by Bbd on Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 4:02 AM
25 May 2008
We stopped at the Cimory Restaurant in Bogor to look for some fresh yogurt but all of them were fat free. So, we just bought a few cups and the spent sometimes around the place. it was almost dark when we got there but even in that darkness, we could tell that the scenery is really beautiful up there.
Here are some photos that we took.
Pasha had a really good time playing with the slide. The restaurant have quite a nice place for kids to play around while parents are enjoying the food. We did not try the food though as we needed to head back to Jakarta.
Surprisingly I don't have that much craving on food compared to the last holiday. I mean sure I ate some durian and rambutans but I remembered I gobbled up just too much last year. And as for food, hmm, there's nothing much that I couldn't eat back in Qtar,. I mean Kak Zah made excellent nasi dagang. And she cooked it with love and all. So comapred to the ne I bought here the other day, cit jauh panggang dari apilah. And Kak yati made roll-your-eyes nasi kerabu. Unless of course one of you guys yang masaklah. Yum yum. Yang tu gua tak tolak.
Oh but still the satay here is way better.Nak nak satay muar yang kecik manis. And I still go for kerang rebus, kerang bakar, kupang, lala, siput sedut masak lemak cili api and all that. ABC and cendol.
What I want coming back home is to get some books. Particularly Agama Islam reference book for the kids. I just cannot find it anywhere. There are activity books of course but there are only questions in them, no notes whatsoever. I need some notes, text book like. You know to guide me to teach them. Sure I can look up for notes and set soem questions but its just too much work and I err not sure whether I would be good enough. AT least a text book can be my guideline while I use other resources as well.
Can you suggest me what to buy and where. If any of you have standard 1 to 5 text books, and are not using them, I would love to purchase them. Kalau ada sila email hudishh@gmail.com. preferbally before Thursday because after that I am going to KL and thus no internet access.
AM
I am in my most lepak mode ever in Muar. Apart that I have to drive everywhere for my dad, which is really no different from what I have been doing all these while anyway. But so far no cooking at all for me. Yalah saya sekarang duduk rumah bujang. Tak kuasa baru nak start beli barang mentah. The kids played PS2 nearly all day long and I watched tv to my heart content.
We went to PD the other day tapi unfortunately, I ran out of camera battery and I also realised that I didn't bring my charger. THE HORRORS!!! So my 3d2n stay in PD has virtually no photos. Tapi adalah sikit2 ambik gambar.
Click HERE for more pictures yang tak banyak sangat tu.
The trip was really good. My dad came along. I took the old road pengkalan balak and sort. Alot of stops along the way. The kids get to run like crazy and the atok get to really spent time with them. This can be an annual thing for us. Last year was gunung ledang.
I spent my time reading as well and managed to finish Ayat-ayat cinta. Mantap. There are moments that I cried reading the book. Hmm I can't remember which passage. Tapi ada satu part ni funny. Masa dia kata rakan2 dia yang ngaji dengan Sheikh tu kasihan kat dia sebab dia murid kesayangan cikgu dia. Kelakar aku rasa. ACtually banyak gak funny moment. Saya tengah menteleah kali kedua ni. I like the book becaue I can feel what the writer says about the summer heat and the winter cold. I can relate to the arabic convo (especially helped by the footnoteslah of course) and it certainly remind me of the recently married couple in Qtar hari tu. The groom pun Indonesian gak. Tak taulah ramai awek rebut dia ke tak. he he mungkin harus ku tanya sama dia. And after that I sent sms to lover in Indonesian mode.
"AKu perlu bicara sama kamu"
"Sesuatu yang sirius"
"Apakah kau sudah tiba di rumahmu?"
and after that he gelabah-gelabah open the YM and asked me what happen I said
"Apa yang kamu ribut-ribut begini"
Hahahha. entah betul ke tidak.
I want to get the other malay/ Indonesia book yang femes amat tu. Tasbih something. Apa ah tajuk dia?
I managed to get one session of facial. Sakit nak mampus! Nasib baik dia kata tak banyak yang nak di korek tapi muka banyak bekas jerawat. Huhuhu.
Will
Well I am going to shop for certain things. Like I prefer buying skirts in Malaysia because I can at least find my size i.e. my length and I prefer the design here. tak gaudy. Books. Barang penjagaan muka. Tudung. he he.. rempah ratus. Nak jumpa kawan-kawan.
And I am thinking of selling our car. Mazda Premacy year 2004 Color red mengancam. SPorty look. Good condition. Accident free (So far, Insya Allah) Any takers? Email me if interested.
There was a slight drizzle this morning on the way to work, and that wasn't helping me any further. Forget about any sense of personal space whenever you're traveling on the MRT, or that you may have to jostle with rude people along the way.
I am still tired from last night's bus trip back down south. It was smooth all the way except for the snag before reaching the Tuas CIQ. The bus queue was excruciatingly slow moving and took us about 40 minutes to reach the parking bays. Inside the CIQ, the queue was non-existent, a blessing. It still took me until 12.30am to reach the apartment.
While on the way, the wife called me just before reaching JB. Amir was a bit disjointed, searching for me before bed time. He's ok actually, he knows I'm at work far away but he's still a little confused. Once in a while, he'll cry out for me when he jumps into our bedroom, still thinking I'm there. He still thinks that I'll be back later at night. One time, he rushes to the door at the sight of car lights turning into the house next door. Another time, he was angry with the house help for making hot drinks at night when I wasn't even home yet. Boy, it's gonna take a while for him to fully adjust.
Adam? He's as good as he can be, so used to being left on his own. Plus, he's at the age that he could easily grasped complex ideas and thoughts. He's the boy that I had to leave for 2 months when he was barely 3 years old.
All else being fine, we as a family are slowly adapting and adjusting to the current weekday arrangements. I'm trying to make it a point to travel back home every weekends so as to make the boys, Amir specifically, a bit more adjusted and relaxed. I need to adjust a lot too. It gets kinda lonely going home to an empty apartment when I was so used to listen to my kids laughing, talking, screaming & shouting every night. Not forgetting, missing the warmth of my wife sleeping next to me.
A few weeks ago I told myself I would try to take at least one photo a day to sharpen my picture-taking skills.
So far I've only managed to take one picture a week, more like it.
Anyways, here's my kitchen window, from the outside and inside.
Those flowers are fake,
but their color provide enough cheer for me while I'm cutting up chicken or draining pasta or washing the dishes.
Worth the 9 times SR6 (SR54) that I paid for, and I don't even have to stress or worry about them dying on me when I go on my vacation (or forget to water). The only care they need is a little rinsing now and again to wash off the sand/dust, especially after a sandstorm.
It also makes my kitchen window unique when you look for it from the street :)
Posted by mamarawks on 5-Jul-2008 at 12:43 AM in Tag
These are the rules :
1. Post YOUR photo wearing red, may it be red top, bottom, the least would be red accessories if u hate wearing red. If u can’t find one, u still have an option.Either post your significant other’s photo or your child’s photo, if u have one. Of course, they should be wearing red.
2. Let us know the reason why u were wearing that particular day.Was it your birthday? Is red your fave color or was it the shirt that u first saw in your closet that day?
Well Ckn Pfordten, I really don't have red shirt but my kids do have it. Only no photo of the wearing red. So I think the nearest color is in this photo.. aci bley?
So this is my baju raya for year of 2003. Nisa first Raya Celebration. Of course the pic was taken during Hari Raya, I think its second day of Eid. Was taken at Muar (my husband grandmother's house). Ni gambar ni gua tgh slim lagi.. hehehe...
Posted by mamarawks on 5-Jul-2008 at 12:32 AM in Tag
This is another of those Linky Love game where you only have to tag 10 person in one post but still there is no actual limit (you can tag more if you want!). Once tagged, you have to copy paste the link in this post, and make them grow!
Do not delete any of the links and be honest to yourself!
BennyLiew, RamblingMoo, Mum & Kids In Wonderland, Judelittle, Our mini blog sphere, Rooms in My Heart, J@n!ce Ng, ChinNee, Jo-N, LadyJava's Lounge, Apples Of The Eyes, aNgRiAniWoRLd, persismutiara, my little family, LG a.k.a Lemongrass, McTa ,manje , nitta, yatt, mat gebu
next
The lucky 7 person I am going to tag is
S_Shamen, Siti Azma, Sweet Bobo, Mak Lang, Kak Pah Sherry, Lizah Zakaria, Dayang....
(Dan, untuk senarai nama di atas, sudilah kiranya menerima gambar "Touch Of Nature" dari mat gebu untuk blog/fotopages anda..)
10 person i'm going to tag is
shima, jasmeen, yullina,soulha,elianas,rani, sabrina,zuhri, kak rinchan,umi-kal...dan sudilah kiranya menerima TOUCH OF NATURE dariku untuk mu wahai sabahat sekelian untuk ditepek di FP/blog memasing supaya dinding umah cantik berseri.
Mereka yang ku rasa sudi menerima (sudi tak sudi, kena terima jugak! Wakakaka) bunga kantan kembang mekar ini ialah.....
1. Erna 2. Kak Noor 3. Muna 4. Cak 5. Aimi 6. Kuchai 7. Mama Ca 8. Mummy Jam 9. Zakiah 10. Anna
Terimalah bungan kembang setaman ini daripada mommy: (tengah garu kepala nak tag 10 orang!!!! huhuhu)
1. Madoct
2.Farah@Mama225
3. Shah,Sya,Syahmi,Syafikah adeii! makin panjang link ekau! jgn mare..siapkan takoyaki utk den..balik sok den singgah makan
4. Yaya just to remind me that i need to bake your cookies
5. Hana Mek buyong..alahai..kalau larat dan lepas segala sickness tu le yerr..
6. Nor@MommyHafiy ya ampun! kalau tak buat pun dimaafkan..mak buyong dah hampir nak meletops ni
7. Lyn@Sudan Ya Allah! Ya Ampun! baru ku teringat! nanti ya Lyn! mak wayar byk putus ni asik lupeeeee... akan ku settlekan asap!
8. Diba khas utk mu..cewah! asik takdak jodoh yo ekau nak oda brownies den..huhuhu..satu hari nnt insyaallah ya
9. Kak Gee
10. Valli congrats and good luck with 2 kiddos!
So now is my turn...jadi sudilah jugak menerima bunga yang cantik ini untuk hiasan fp anda...
1. suraya - yey! suraya is mama-2-b for her second child...dah la dgn cutey alea tu...geram tgk idung alea yg cute!.
2. nadd - another mama-2-b as well and also for her second child..bile lah momy khairyn nak menambah ni....
3. ckN - sorry dear....sudilah sekiranya terima bunga ni k...
4. mas - terima lah mas....hikhikhik
5. tesya/izwan - newly parent...a proud parent of mia...baby yg comel...
6. delia - 3rd baby to be delivered soon....bestnyeee....
7. ummi irdina - my fp fren...sudi lah terima k...
8. syah@bangkok - sorry syah...jgn marah haaaa....
9. suz - sudilah amik bunge dari aku ni suz...
10. nana - nana....update laaa fp ni...buh gmbr ainna byk2 k...
Since I received the tag from Lyn, then terpaksa la jugak ku panjangkan bunga kantan ini....
1. Ita - Ada alasan skang untuk ko update... 2. Salina - sudilah terima bunga I walaupun anak2 u semua teruna 3. Abg Azlie - walaupun dah break from blogging tapi boleh post kat Al-Jaleel 4. Ema - this picture may not as beautiful as your fella ambik 5. Nadia - Hadiah bunga untuk Nisa 6. Gjie - Kasi update itu blog... 7. Fakhzan - put up something different for your blog 8. Hubbyku - I know you wont do this tagging 9. Nonie - Cik Non ni untuk birthday ko... 10. Jo - I know u rajin update blog...
To those who receive my tagging don't forget to do it..... hehehehehe
I received this tag by Ckn Pfordten... now its my turn to tag others
1. Cik Beelove - sila la update blog cik puan... 2. Goboklama - just to share with you this beautiful flowers.. 3. Mommyalif - sebagai hadiah atas kejayaan mu sebagai ITIL certified.. 4. Mosh - saja la nak kenakan awak.. 5. Rotidua - idea untuk cik roti update blog 6. Futuredoc - hadiah atas kejayaan anda .. 7. Picang - sebab cik abang kita ni dah lama tak update blog 8. Azell - Sebagai hadiah ulang tahun persahabatan kita yanng ke 12 9. Plearus - Bagi kat baby Aysha kenal bunga 10. Myra - sebagai tanda selamat pulang ke tanah air tercinta... hehehehhe..
I had Wendy's yesterday, but Carl's was definitely better.
Meatier and tastier.
Burgers, ok. Nothing to do with any sexual innuendos.
Although, the current hot topics in the country isn't something to be proud of. Who knows who's telling the truth, or who's the victim. It's their words against the other side's.
All else being equal, politician will do what it takes to secure their power and position.
Gong Kapas' Family Family Day was great. Met my long-time-no-see cousins. Along was 5 months pregnant. Dilia was 5 weeks pregnant after 2 years married with Fadhil. Adik Ma now temporary SAHM. She's now hunting for job. Any HR related post available around Kota Damansara please share with me.
We stay at Strawberry Park Apartment Kijal as we did not manage to book any resort or hotel near to Cherating/Kemaman border. Ni under estimate short holiday punya pasal. We thought of school holiday was over and the place would be easy to get but we are wrong.
2 apartments at Strawberry was booked to accompany 5 families. The place was nice actually but due to poor management a few things was disservice and deface. The swimming pools tiles was come off. Television was not working (happen to my unit). But afterall, our purpose is just to have a place to sleep is good enough for all of us.
We reached there around 3 PM after 4 hours journey from Puchong. Just stop at Ombak restaurant at Cherating to had our scrumptios lunch off Nasi Putih, Ikan Siakap Masak Stim, Tomyam Campur, Sup Ayam, Daging Masak Merah,Kailan Ikan Masin, Telur Goreng Dadar, Sambal Belacan with Timun and last but not least fresh blend of Watermelon juice. Yummmmyy!!
We check-in to our apartment and had our 1/2 hour rest before the kids decide to jump into the pool. The weather was nice with the breeze that coming from beach. The kids had a blast moment swimming in the pools until all sudden The Pink Oink-Oink passing by near to our pool.
"Mama, itu pig kan mama"
"Ha ah... shhhhhhhhhhh..."
Hahahahah!!! The place full with flora and fauna rupanya...
So after Maghrib, we heading to Pok De house to start the BBQ session. Nasi Goreng, bihun goreng and kepok (keropok) pon ada. Kids really enjoy themselves. The party was over around 11:30 PM. Most of the kids getting drowsy and some of them already travel to la-la land. But most of adult still busy stuffing ourselves with ikan bakar, sotong bakar, udang bakar, ayam bakar, daging and kambing bakar. At 12 we clean up the table. Pack some left over to bring to our apartment.
Wake up next following day the time shown 7:15. Subuh Gajah aku dibuatnya. Most of the kids still sleaping. Mothers preps last night left over to be our breakfast (the place did not provide breakfast). So had our breakfast time. 9AM kids again jump into the pools for 45 minutes aktiviti berendam. At 10, all of us busy preparing kids masing-masing and clean up and pack up most of our stuff. We check out from the place at 11AM. Some of us touring Bandar Kemamang and some straight away drive themselves to Pok De house for lunch time.
As for me, we drop in to Teluk Mok Nik (Monica Beach bak kata orang puteh) to borong our Sata, Kepok leko and kepok keping, and also Kelapa Jelly. Arrived at Pok De house, people busy preparing some side dish as main was catered. Pok De was serving me nasi himpit with sambal kelapa which is something that I did not have for quite long time. Lunch served at 12:30. With famous amous sambal belacan with mempelam cincang, budu and ulaman. Ikan singgang, ayam percik (for those non-terengganu family), sayur lemok jambu golok, ikan panggang (alamak meleleh la plak air liur...) with kordial. Super Yummmmmss!!!
After had our lunch, (since we just using paper plate) most of us just sitting down and continue our never ending story until 1 by 1 of us fly to lalaland.
We start our journey heading back to Puchong at 5PM. We had a very smooth journey and reached at home at 9PM.
Everybody was tired but I have to start my laundry especially on wet clothes. Only manage to lay down at 12 midnight before I start to worry on my exam again....
p/s: Will upload the picture later. Still waiting from my cousin.
If you are one of Sis Zabrina's fans like me, surely you've heard of her second book. I'm yet to read her first, though. *hangs head in shame* BTW, her [URL="http://wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com/2008/07/special-treat-free-islamic-motivational.html"]latest entry[/URL] reminds me of my late Tok (paternal grandma) and my mom.
Sis Zabrina talked about act of kindness.. and I don't know any other soul kinder than these two important women in my life. I still remember, when I was 8 living with my Tok, she never closed or locked her front door. Any passerby, stranger or not, were welcome with open hands. Those 'makcik jual barang' with heavy goods carried on their heads would always came to my Tok's house because I think somehow there was a grapevine or something that this little frail-looking lady wouldn't let them left empty-handed.. or rather 'empty-stomach-ed'. She would invite them to sit and have a rest, gave them drinks.. and most of the time, purchased something.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
My groupmate and I had a few drinks at Koko Black right after the last exam.
[IMG]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3180/2635000968_b1332ee237_o.jpg[/IMG]
[SIZE="1"][COLOR="DimGray"]Iced chocolate I ordered which gave me headache minutes later.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
On the way home someone asked me what I'd do during the holidays and I asnwered 'Blogging!' I thought about phone calls I have to make, books I plan to read, movies I feel like watching yada yada yada.
Hmm.. right. Above is the unfinished entry drafted the morning before the last exam that I planned to finish post-exam. Right. I don't feel like it anymore. One because I don't have the talent to write heart-warming stories. Two because I can't see the point.
Yesterday, I spent almost my whole day in my room. I just felt like crap. I was quite fine the night before but one moment yesterday, it all suddenly came back to me. How terrible I did the day before.
I didn't go to watch the 'Api Neraka' with the girls even though I was the one who partially suggested it in the first place. With this mood I tried not to have any human contact.
MCH noticed something wasn't right. I kinda dumped everything on him. Bad bad fiancée. *sighs*
I think I'll do some studying in the next 3 weeks. I know it sounds lame but I feel studying how to save people is better than cramming for the exam. I'll see you when I see you. Till then, take care.
p/s - If you wanna know the details of the exam, go [URL="http://aliyaazlan.blogspot.com/2008/06/intense.html"]here[/URL] or [URL="http://hafiz238.blogspot.com/2008/07/exam-is-over.html"]here[/URL].
Meetings, travelling outstations, events all one after another *sigh.
So much planning in my head. Nak buat ini nak settle itu but in the end only 20% was done. Anyways, at least somethings get done.
After nearly one year moving to tiga-tiga, we are now finalising the third phase of our house planning. Entah berapa banyak phase lagi lah kan. I have sooo many ideas for the house but I don't have the time to do it. I have ideas for the girls bedroom but I better wait till they can sleep on separate beds. Next year maybe. Hopefully cik kecik Hannah can finally able to sleep away from mama's ketiak.
There are so much to write on Afiq. He has really grown up.
I am going on the stage tomorrow. Receiving my Anugerah Cemerlang heh..heh...macam tak caya you....It comes with some angpow.
See I am not here nor there. My entry sounds like rojak. * sigh
Mr is currently attending dinner in Sydney. My turn to take care of the three children. He had done that last week when I was away in KK. Menjual air liur again giving out briefings to the state people. Btw, while in KK I took 3 hours to prepare the answer for Soalan Parlimen. My first time doing that. Got my staff to email me all the infos and there I was trying to construct good answers in proper BM. Selalu dengar je dlm parlimen (I've attended 4-5 parlimen sittings before) now must write answers and aaa...macam blank lah pulakkk.
Posted by LoLlieS on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 03:02 PM in Popsicles
I have finally agreed to myself that I DO want to give the kids some allowance (monetary) sometime ago especially after [URL="http://lollies.efx2blogs.com/31118/Oh+Dear+Sya.html"]THIS[/URL] episode with Sya. But still it wasn't an immediate thing, but alas it was something that I felt like giving in the hope of teaching them other things, Insya Allah.
So we sat down and discuss the list of things that they must complete every week in return with some "salary". The earnings is really little actually. Seriously. It's only half of daily allowance to some people. But to them it's really big. You should see their exhilarated look on their face when they put that amount of money into their respective wallets and guard them precious paper, like its the whole gem in the world.
This allowance also come with a warning. If any of the task is incomplete or work is not done to par (my standard), I won't hesitate to cut off 50 dirham of each of the task. There will be checking day which is on Tuesday where preliminary warning is given. Come Friday, if the task is still not completed, I would cut their allowance. And believe me I have done that. There are times that they only get QR1 a week. I am yet to execute that they got none.
You would see them really cleaning up after their Fardhu Ain class on Friday. And you may also witness one of them would complain that the other is doing nothing (always Sya) or that one is doing extra job (always Sya again).
Extra jobs, if considered worthwhile, will be rewarded with bonuses and this is solely my discretion. Ohh I am so powerful.
I also reward things for extra good behaviour: like when they behave when we entertain people, being brave : when they pull out their tooth themselves, when they show tremendous progress : naik juz quran and also doing well in their studies.
Ad these will all be recorded in a balance sheet. A simple one with amount, credit and debit column and balance. And the last check, Batrisyia had her balance sheet not balanced. She had lost her money and also the other week she had more money than what she recorded. Isk isk. I think I need to concentrate on her adding (and subtracting) the bigger number (which is not lah so big).
So far so good. The room was way better than before and the cooperation (and reporting of lack of work) has also increased. But I am also doing this, because I WANT to give them allowance and to have them feel the idea of managing money and earning (somewhat).However, so far they have not been using it. So the balance sheet has always been in the adding column. But Haziq has been planning that when he has reached certain amount, he wants to spend it on something. Well he earns it.
The other day, Sya's school asked if we would like to donate to the fire victims in the Industrial area here. This area also housed rumah kongsi labourers. They lost everything. Their savings. Living quarters. Food. Everything. So I looked for dried food that can be given like flour, sugar, salt, biscuits, milk and also blankets and shirts. I also gave some money.
Then a thought crossed me. I asked the kids, whether they are willing to part with some money to give to these poor people. Amazingly, they said yes without any hesitation. Sya gave half of what she had. Haziq gave slightly less but was still alot.
I was seriously taken aback. It is not easy to part with money especially they did have much to start with. You can tell, I was extremely pleased. And that was the beginning of a bracketed number in their balance sheet.
Sya kept on asking whether Allah would be pleased with her. Oh Sya also mentioned that she took months to collect those. Heh heh. Ada jugak tu.
I seriously wanted to reward them. At first I thought of returning the same amount of money and doubling it. Then I thought it would not be so good. It might take away their "ikhlas" in the future. My lover suggested that we reward them extra during eid without direct mentioning to this philanthropic behaviour.
I know this is only one thing. Doesn't qualify them as anything. But I hope to encourage them to have this value in their life. And pray that Allah makes it easy for us to part with our worldly belonging to help others and eventually help ourselves in the world after.
Posted by Rotidua on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 07:27
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Anywhere with free wifi.
Driving in the hot afternoon sun. Rushing here and there.
Nonchalant HR exec yang nak kena ketuk kepala dengan aku (managed to get the 'missing' statement request printed).
A suicidal motorcyclist beating the red light as I was crossing the junction.
An idiot driver almost sideswiping me while yakking on the phone.
The extra 'un'-usual.
A lazy assed piece of human who threw away a used kid's diapers on the parking lot under another car.
