Rudeness

I encountered two discourteous persons on my way to work today. The first is an Indian guy, tall and broad shouldered. He was wearing a blue dress shirt. I suppose an executive. He rushed to the escalator at Tampines MRT station, to get to the platform, and casually "shouldered" aside a petite Chinese lady. I think his shoulders hit her ear... I could not help myself. "Wow.. What a gentleman!" I remarked loudly. Urrgh! I simply cannot abide such ill-mannered, self-centered behaviour, especially coming from some executive yuppie! I think he should have heard me. I know the lady certainly did.. But I'm not certain he recognised that the barb was meant for him... sigh....

The next fellow was standing in my way when I was about to alight the train at Raffles Place MRT. Again, a smartly clad Chinese fellow, in long-sleeved white shirt, complete with tie. As I was about to step off, he stepped onto the train, thus barring my way. In my mind I was already going: "Grrr... Excuse me, don't you know you are supposed to give way to alighting passengers? Have you no manners at all? Or is it just that your puny mind is ill-equipped to learn???" But, the time to alight is limited, too short for the tirade I had in mind, so I gritted my teeth, and walked around him instead... But I was fuming all the while....

Just an anecdote

I was thinking about what fun we had last Thursday. First, Z and I had lunch (and came back to the office late again, as usual, of course)... Then, after work, we met up, and travelled by MRT to my aunt's place, to pick up the brownies we had ordered for Ana and Sal's (belated) birthdays.

It really brought back memories, when we bunked together at my aunt's place during final year NUS. We laughed and laughed, and literally got tired laughing....

We gorged on fried macaroni and curry puffs.. (Again, this was so reminiscent of how we used to eat and eat and eat back then). Then my husband came and off we went to deliver the brownies.

Ana was down with the flu, poor thing. So we told her, we will just drop it off, you go ahead to bed.
But when we got there, with my hubs waiting in the car, Ana's mom jemput masuk, and Humairah was wide awake and so we couldn't resist. We picked her up...
Ana's Mom: Nak air?
Us: Tak pe cik, kita sekejap ajer, suami Min tunggu kat bawah.
Ana's Mom: Ok..
(Baby with Min, then I gave to Z.)
Z: Haa.. I scared to hold her...
Ana's Mom: Dah besar, apa nak takut. Dah 7 bulan. Kalau baby bolehlah takut.
(Z accepts Humairah).
Ana's mom (talking to Ana's maid): Ambilkan air.
Us: Takpe cik, takpe. Kita nak cepat.
(Z passes baby back to me).
(This went on a few more rounds. Maid made the drinks anyway.. Apparently we were not leaving so soon! Ha ha ha...)
(Z drinks first. Then I pass baby back to her, so I can drink)
Min: Ok let's go.
(Z passes baby back to me)
(I hold her a while, then pass baby to Z. And this goes on an infinite number of times...)
(Finally, Ana woke up.. Oh dear, we made so much noise and stayed too long!)
He he he....

But it really felt like we did not spend enough time with Humairah. At seven months, she's very active, and super cute! Sigh.....

Fadil's Birthday

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Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

Today is Fadil's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FADIL! And this is his cake, specially made by cousin Tira... We actually celebrated it yesterday.. And had a good laugh over the cake. Obviously a story there... My aunt's birthday wish for him: May you get your license soon... Keh keh keh!

The cake taste wonderful by the way... Tira's special chocolate truffle...

Fireworks

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Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

This is not the fireworks I saw on National Day. My brother went to the Esplanade to capture some shots of the fireworks. But Zahid said this shot reminds him of Star Wars, you know when they are jumping into hyperspace. And so it does.... :-)

Al-Majlis photo 3

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Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

Finally, the gig started. This is my bro plsying his guitar. To his side is the "berangan hensem" fellow I was talking about.. Hee hee hee....

Al-Majlis photo 2

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Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

Here is one of Iryan holding up a note (which reserved our table). The note actually reads " Reserved for Fadil's parents".. Hee hee.. There we are.. "Fadil's parents"...

Al-Majlis photo 1

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Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

I was browsing through my sista's laptop and came across these photos we took while we were waiting for my brother's gig to start at Al-Majlis, National Day eve. Here is Su and Zahid posing for a picture...

What I did on National Day

Surprisingly, I actually had quite a good time yesterday. My husband went to Kulai with his mom and aunt so I went to my mom's place about 9 in the morning. My mom wanted to go to NTUC to buy some stuff for the "roti kirai" that she wanted to make that day. My dad was still snoring away, so I offered to send her. I swiped my dad's car keys and off we went. Zahid tagged along too.

I had not driven my dad's manual matrix for quite some time and it takes quite a bit of getting used to. I am so glad that I spent the first 5 years of my driving experience driving a manual car. That's why I always always advocate that a newly licensed driver should always always drive a manual car first. Otherwise you will forget! I know you guys have heard me spouting this often enough. But I'm going to spout some more anyway. Look at me, after a year of driving my automatic Corolla, I am already so unsteady... I was driving upslope on 2nd gear when the gear gave out. Haiya.. I had to change down, and stop the car. Pull up the handbrake, and move off from a steep slope! Dah lama tak buat kerja macam tu.... It actually brought back memories of driving the old 1985 Sunny on the steep hills of NUS... he he he...

Anyway, I digressed. At the market, I did some shopping. I bought my husband 2 pairs of shorts (that look just like a quicksilver pair that he has at home) for $3 each! Of course they are imitation.. but who the heck cares?

Then, while my mom shopped, Zahid and I decided to have breakfast at Mr Prata. Zahid bought cheese and egg prata and I ordered thosai masala (even though I already had something to eat at my mom's place before we left! My appetite has gone back up...) Then something nearly happened. I did not realise that the leg of my chair was very close to the step at the coffeshop. Luckily a kind stranger alerted me. Otherwise I would have fallen a minute or so later.... Alhamdulillah nothing like that happened!

I just wasted the rest of the day away, it was so fun! At 1pm, we watched the Malay movie that starred Erra Fazira and her husband. I think it's called "Hingga ke Hujung Nyawa". We had a lot of fun criticising the lead character and praising the actor that played her dad. He is simply fantastic! At 3pm, I think I snored away on my sister's bed. At 5 plus, we were criticising the screaming people on tv (those who lead the crowds at the National Day parade).

At 6, my husband was back, and we were all glued in front of the tv, again talking about the NDP. Then hubby and I decided to go out to buy Hagen Daaz ice-cream (sudden craving). I even put on a red shirt for kicks! Outside, we actually caught sight of the fireworks in Tampines. Beautiful! And the armoured tanks passed us too... I think I would have enjoyed that if I were five... The people in the tanks were actually waving to us, but as far as I can see nobody waved back...

At night we binged on hagen daaz chocolate ice while watching CSI. It was a perfect end to a pretty perfect day....

Al Majlis

My brother told me just now that he has a gig at Al-Majlis
That's a cafe at Arab Street
Where he works part time.

Let's go to support him.. after all tomorrow's a public holiday!
Ok set!

So we arrived at Al-Majlis at 9.15
My hubby, sis, youngest bro and me.
Gig was supposed to start at 9pm...
When we arrived, it doesn't look like there was going to be any performance...

No extension cords.. says my bro..
Then later,
No power...

And so we waited, and waited....
And finally the "gig" started

It wasn't exactly a disaster...
My bro played pretty well actually..
I thought he would have been a success if he had played solo...

My hubbs said the other guitar was out of tune
Yet they kept on playing...

Oh my poor ears!!!

Anyway, we had a lot of fun criticising everything...
There was this guy who was full of himself..
He kept on posing for the girls...
My sis was snapping shots of the performance..
And he really posed for the pictures...
Hee hee hee

All in all, it was a fun night.
I had a great time..
The music was not too bad...
Like I said, my bro's rendering of Eagles' Hotel California was quite good
Too bad he was overshadowed by the other fellow's loud twangy guitar...

Oh well.. practice makes perfect!

Arrgh!

Arrghh!
What am I still doing at work?
Its National Day tomorrow. Should today not be a holiday too?

Arggh Argghh...
My husband is on leave today...But I have to go to work!
Sob sob sob..

No mood already...

Holiday mode already...

Its knock off time now.
What am I still doing here???

Arrghhh!!!!!!

Too Young?

I have received this a lot
And from Many different people...

People will say.. "You look so young!"
Some people think I'm "still studying"
Others don't believe I'm a professional
When they see me
I think their confidence in my ability slips a notch...

I think that's why I prefer to liase with my clients over the phone
Rather than in person
Sigh.... The irony is that
Most other people would love to look so young

The clincher was this
I was talking to a colleague just now
She is in her third trimester
I'm not very close to her

But I revealed my "good news" to her..
She said oh yes she suspected
Cos I look so sickly all the time these days
But she didn't want to ask...
Because I look so young
She was not even sure whether I was married
I look too young to be married....

Oh wow...
How to react to that?

Of course I glossed it over
Accepted it as a compliment...
But I realise now that its still bugging me...

Oh well.. could be the hormones...