US Arrogance

I was watching Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic Channel last night. The episode was the one where a commercail airline Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by US misiles in 1988, killing all 290 passengers and crew on board. See here for a summarised acount by Wikipedia.

I am just amazed by the arrogance of the USA.

1. Firstly, the US vessel was not where it was supposed to be, in Iranian waters.

2. The US crew were negligent. One officer had negligently thought that the Iranian airliner was descending when in fact it was ascending at all times. Nobody bothered to verify this.

3. The military inquiry formed to look into the matter found no negligence on the part of the crew of the US navy ship.

4. The US Navy ship attempted to contact the Iranian airliner 7 times on the radio military frequency and 3 times on the civial distress frequency and during the latter, they addressed the airliner as "unidentified F14". Are they stupid or are they stupid?

5. Instead of being reprimanded and dishonourably discharged for killing civilians, they were given a hero's welcome and awarded medals for their stupidity and fatal negligence.

6. The US military inquiry had the cheek to push some blame on the Iranian authorities for allowing commercial flight near battle zones. What the...

7. The US never apologised. Then vice-president George Bush was quoted as saying,"I will never apologise for the United States of America, ever. I don't care what it has done. I don't care what the facts are."

Like I said, US arrogance never cease to amaze me.

In the name of Fun, pls don't take offence at the pet names thrown in.. hee hee...

Everybody looked at me in surprise
With raised eyebrows and incredulity in their faces
When I first broke the news

"You? Are you sure?"
My sister even went on to point out
"You, with your sweaty hands.. You can meh?"

That really did not help my self confidence a whit
Given a choice I would have backed out
But the poor dear insisted.

I volunteered my sister's services
Sal volunteered her neighbour's
But the steel-headed princess was adamant
"I want to be comfortable and I am comfortable with you."
Talk about stress

I went to the library and borrowed
A book about it
But did not have time to look at it (what with wailing baby and moving my furniture around - more on that later)

I borrowed Su's supplies
That titanium-headed empress dowager
Wanted eye-liner and mascara
I have, in my lifetime, touched those items
A grand total of three times!

Panic!

D Day came.
Last minute tips from Su:
"Apply here, here, here"
"Base colour, highlighter, definer"
"Steady hand with the eyeliner"
Etcetra etcetra...

I felt like I was cramming for an exam!

"Mak Andam dah sampai.."
joked her mom.

Stress!

Oh my, look at the time - I have less than an hour
Stress!
"The empress dowager jokingly remarked, "Don't depend on my clock, its ten minutes slow.."
My heart almost stopped!

The Queen's sister popped her head in when we were halfway done
"The guy's side is here..." (The purpose of which, I suspect, is to make her lil sis freak out, but I was the one who did!)

He he he he...

But actually (my over-exaggerated hyperventilating account of what happened aside) it was very fun.
Been some time since the four of us got together like that
We must do it more often...

And...

I liked the result of my painting efforts
Very much!

And congratulations dear
You looked really pretty and radiant
(if I may say so myself, he he..)

And I will pray for you, for your happiness, and marital bliss
May Allah bless you.

Under the Weather

We have been ill lately
My poor son got his first taste of the flu (Alhamdulillah there was no fever).
At first I thought I had passed it to him (as I had just recovered from one myself).
But then Ilyas sneezed into my face
And I got sick all over again.

So the culprit must be my sister
(Who was sniffling away when she played with him some time back)

Kesian dengar dia batuk you!
And there was one morning we woke up to find dried green snot around his nose! MasyaAllah!

But he is better now (although still coughing and puking out flam)

Oh and he has learned to turn over...
Yesterday I placed him in his baby gym on the floor while I rushed to cook dinner (this normally keeps him quiet for about half hour max)

Soon I heard him cry...

"Ok, ok.."

And I found him face down, with his butt jutting out into the air, struggling to lift his head and free his hands. Ha Ha Ha! So cute!!

(This morning he managed to lift his head. Hooray!! I rushed for the camera but all the shots were blurry.. shucks...)

Pleasures

1. Feeling the morning breeze as I pumped through the jogging track. There is nothing like it!

Jogging in the morning is so much better than jogging at any other time of day.


2. Returning home to the sight of my husband and son peacefully sleeping side by side, looking so much alike.

I think I just stood there for a minute with a foolish grin on my face.

Huff and Puff

This morning as I was huffing and puffing around the jogging track
I bumped into my neighbour.
I privately call her "makcik jogging" as I (used to) see her every morning leading a group of neighbours doing tai qi (back when I used to jog nearly every morning).
Ironic because I was the one doing the jogging, not her. But the name stuck.

"Not easy to lose weight, huh?" she commented to me in sympathy.

I think she must have been imagining how I looked back then compared to this lump of fat bouncing up and down while painstakingly putting one foot in front of the other and blowing out gusts of breath with every step.

"Nope, not easy. InsyaAllah it may take 1 more year." I managed to gasp out.

"InsyaAllah."

Amin! Suddenly I had an extra burst of energy and would have jogged one more round if not for the time constraint.

So for you folks who are constantly tempting me with Swensens (or rather, who I constantly tempt with Swensens, he he) please remind me of my resolution every time I stray, ok? That's 10 more kilos to go in a year.

botak!

botak!
Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

I stare at this picture every time I miss him at work (like now)... Can't wait to go home and kiss him... wait til I get home.... siap dia.. kena kerja (bruised cheeks due to too much kissing! he he he...)

after bath

after bath
Originally uploaded by pepperMin.

I decided to put up more pics of my honey cake! This photo was taken a few months ago.. His face has changed a lot since. And he is now more curious, always staring, and looking around.. And if he is cranky, just stepping outside the door would keep him quiet.. Kaki jalan anak mama....

Silly Ol' Me

I walked up to my car
And pressed and pressed the button to disengage my car alarm.
Nothing happened. I rubbed hard at the device.
Still nothing. Must be the battery

And clever me,
I happily unlocked the car manually.

The alarms (must have) woke(n) up the dead
In the silent night.
It sounded a little like a police car chase (chasing me)

Wee-OU-weE-Ou-Wee-ou- WEE-OU-WEE-OU

I was so conscious of neighbours walking to their windows to curiously peer down, whose car is being stolen?

I happily thought that starting the engine would stop the alarm.
But it did not.
I panicked.
I shut off the engine.

Still, Wee-OU-weE-Ou-Wee-ou- WEE-OU-WEE-OU

Then it stopped.

I opened the car door.
Wee-OU-weE-Ou-Wee-ou- WEE-OU-WEE-OU
I quickly shut the door. With me still inside.

The alarm stopped about 2 minutes later.
I was trapped in the car. Car doors locked, engine off. No air con.
Hot and stuffy.

I called hubby.
"There is a little button at the side panel, near the accelerator. Start the engine and push that button and the alarm will be disabled. But be careful, the washer (correct spelling you technical people?) is missing. The button may disappear if you push too hard."

"Where, I can't find it..." as I groped around and found a tiny "stick" jutting out.. and pushed it.. all the way in... "Oops.."

So I grit my teeth, opened the door (Wee-OU-weE-Ou-Wee-ou- WEE-OU-WEE-OU)... Got out of the car, waited for the alarm to shut off, tried to avoid the stares of curious onlookers and called my dad to borrow his car keys.

Much later (the next day), after we changed the batteries on my car keys, the alarm would still not disable when I press the button.
And we figured out why...

I have itchy fingers. I vaguely remembered fiddling with the alarm in the MRT, and happily locking the mechanism.

Gatal, gatal...