Good news - we're hiring!

Yeah, we're hiring. Again! 


I have been interviewing System Engineers for the past 3 months, to fill up two vacancies we currently have in the team. Hiring is not an easy job, especially for these 2 posts. I think we've interviewed more than 10 candidates so far and only 2 are good enough. 


The worse news is, these 2 engineers turned down our offer.


Argh.... I'm back at square one. Now I have to find more candidates. I really dread going through resumes and calling people for the first interview. 


What was written in the papers a few days ago was so true. The younger generation (especially fresh graduates) are demanding for high salary and want jobs that suit their lifestyle. I've interviewed a few young engineers (who have about 2-3 years experience in the IT industry). They actually told me their likes and dislikes, dos and don'ts on their first interview. They didn't do any research on the positions offered and never visited our corporate website, instead they started dictating their expectations. 


So, it's not a surprise to see the number of unemployed graduates grew each year. They'd rather stay at home, asking money from their ageing parents than start earning and building their lives. 


It's true that Malaysians have been living rather lavishly in the past few decades. Our children, especially. They could always get what they wished for. Even those with struggling parents who are earning less than RM5K a month. I'm not blaming the parents but somehow, showering children with gifts, granting their every wish (especially more pocket money) is not really helping them develop into mature adults. 


You can ask any teenager you find in the shopping mall, what's the value of RM1K? I bet majority of them would answer 'Not Much'. These kids are using smartphones worth more than RM2.5K. Their clothes are from brands you and I couldn't pronounce properly, and some of their shoes alone are twice the price of my 4 handbags combined. 


So when these kids finish college and start hunting for jobs, they'll be looking for really high salary. Even without any experience they would still demand more than RM3K as a start. Most companies can't afford to hire unskilled worker with such basic pay. So, in the end, these kids remain unemployed, and I have to go through 30 more resumes to find the suitable candidates for these 2 vacancies. Pffffbbbtttt!


Have a great weekend, people!

My last day of cuti and my aching back

Huwarrghhh !!! Esok keje!

Didn't managed to write about my raya stories in the previous entry as I suffered a terrible backache since 2 days ago. I don't remember exactly how it started but I've been having stiff neck and left arms for a few days. Since Zarif was sick, he had high fever and he only wanted me to carry him. So, I have been carrying him around the house day and night. Even when we went back to kampung, he was stuck with me, in my arms. He can be very demanding when he's not feeling well.

So, after more than 4 days of carrying him around (he's about 11kg now), my body started to complain. The stiff neck and left arm lasted for 2 days. When Zarif started to show a lot of improvement (the kudis was gone and no more fever) we decided to spend one late afternoon playing football and his brothers cycled in front of the house. I was kicking the ball against the wall when suddenly a shot of pain on my back stopped me from moving.  A few seconds later, I felt ok. So, I pushed Zarif's stroller for a 200 meter walk before I started jogging. I was also racing with Wazif and Shawqi until it was almost Maghrib.

After taking a quick shower, I tried to reach for my towel when another sharp pain almost made me scream in the toilet. I couldn't stand up straight after that. It took me a few minutes just to towel myself and get out of the bathroom. I tried sitting on the edge of my bed, but the pain worsened. Then I decided to walk slowly towards my wardrobe, took out my clothes and also the back support I was wearing when I was pregnant last year. I managed to stand up straight and walked after putting on the back support .

I went to prepare dinner and had a few guests that night. I could walk around the house, did the usual chores but I couldn't lift Zarif. I couldn't even bend over to pick up things lying on the floor.

After the guests left, I decided to lie down and straightened my body. That night I slept with the back support on. For the next two days I couldn't bend over or sit for a long time, or walk normally. I didn't dare to carry Zarif. He was seeking for my attention (as usual) but I had to ask his brothers to play with him and Mr Hubby to take care of him.

This afternoon I went to see the doctor and she inspected my back. She pressed on a few points, the left side of my butt hurt the most, I gasped when she found the spot. Later she confirmed it's caused by tensed muscle. When I told her about carrying Zarif, the stiff neck and left arm she told me she'd prescribe me with some muscle relieving medicines.

After the long chit chat with the Doctor, I left her room, collected my meds and paid at the counter. Just when I was about to reach home I remembered that I FORGOT TO ASK FOR MC for tomorrow. Yikes, I'll have to go to office and walk like Robocop tomorrow!!!! Haiyyaaaa!!!

Mari mengupas isu semasa

Isu Jersey Bola Man U

Kesian kan dengan peminat-peminat Red Devils sebab dah tak digalakkan untuk pakai jersey Man U semata-mata sebab ada gambar (kononnya) devil tu. Padahal, kita semua tak pernah tengok camana rupa devil. Mungkin kalau kita kata gambar kat jersey tu sebenarnya adalah kartun sepupu Spongebob, mungkin surat khabar akan keluarkan penarikan balik larangan memakai jersey ni.

Tapi, kaedah yang lebih selamat lagi (untuk mengelakkan dari fitnah dan sebagainya) kepada para penyokong Man U sekalian ialah dengan menjadi peminat dan terus membeli serta memakai Jersey Liverpool. Musim ni kat jersey langsung takde iklan todi, sumpah..... Ada iklan bank je. Hehehe...

Man U VS Liverpool. (Untuk kanak-kanak riang sahaja)

Liverpool and Liverpool and Liverpool and Liverpool....

Seandainya anda sudah berubah arah, maka bolehlah anda melipat gandakan usaha menambah koleksi jersey Liverpool seperti kami anak beranak... hahaha.

Isu UPSR dan PMR

Nak hapus ke, nak perbaiki atau status quo? Susah nak buat keputusan ni. Dah buat persidangan meja bulat dan keputusannya bercampur-campur. Tak dapat sebulat suara. Maka mungkin banyak lagi meja-meja bulat yang akan dijadikan tempat persidangan membincangkan isu-isu ini. Bagus jugak kalau dapat dengar pengunjung kedai-kedai kopi mendebatkan isu UPSR dan PMR ni sekali-sekala. Jadi-jadilah, jangan asyik cerita pasal Maya Karin dah janda dan Annahita dah jadi Datin tu. Itu dunia artis, tak menolong anak korang dapat masuk universiti pun. 

Saya mendapat jemputan dari egroup Srikandi untuk turut serta membincangkan isu ini, tapi oleh kerana saya tiada modal, maka berkemungkinan besar saya cuma akan pergi menjadi tukang dengar. Saya ketandusan idea kerana saya tak berapa faham apakah isu sebenarnya. Saya sangkakan selepas berkali-kali pembaharuan dilakukan kepada sistem pendidikan negara ini (berubah setiap kali menteri nya berubah) sepatutnya ia kini menuju ke arah kebaikan. Tapi ramai yang mengatakan sebaliknya. Banyak blog yang telah saya baca (langkau-langkau baris sebab Bahasa teknikal sangat...) mencadangkan sistem pendidikan Malaysia ni perlu di overhaul. Ramai juga yang menyuarakan kritikan di akhbar, email berantai dan tak kurang di dalam nota Facebook. Dah letih dah saya membaca kritikan. Ada yang membina, ada yang buat saya rasa merana. 

Tetapi saya belum lagi terbaca tulisan yang menghuraikan dengan panjang lebar cadangan-cadangan yang wajar ketengahkan kepada pihak kementerian dan jawatankuasa panel pemikir bagi melaksanakan 'System Overhaul' tersebut. Kesimpulannya, ramai yang tahu kritik tetapi tidak menyumbang ke arah penyelesaian masalah ini. Cadangan tak memerlukan kertas kerja. Buah fikiran para blogger yang bernas wajar dikongsi di laman blog masing-masing (saya pun bosan baca blog yang sarat dengan agenda politik pihak tertentu. Rakyat Malaysia memang suka baca blog yang memaparkan kontroversi politik, artis dan kisah syahdu janda-janda tetapi kurang bersedia untuk melibatkan diri dalam perbincangan ilmiah). Nak salahkan siapa? Sistem pendidikan juga ke?

Hormati Mufti

Saya sedih membaca tentang Mufti (dan insan-insan yang memiliki ilmu agama Islam yang tinggi) yang diperlekehkan. Digelar dengan nama-nama yang kurang menyenangkan. Dituduh itu ini. 

Perkara paling penting yang kita belajar ketika kecil ialah menghormati orang yang lebih tua dari kita dan orang-orang yang lebih berilmu dari kita. Kalau dikaji-kaji, kita mesti menghormati semua orang kerana kita tidak boleh membezakan sebanyak mana ilmu yang kita ada dengan seorang manusia lain yang berdiri di sebelah kita. Mungkin penampilan manusia itu hodoh, pegi pasar naik bas, bawak beg kanvas compang-camping. Tapi kita tak tahu bahawasanya dia itu mungkin seorang Tahfiz yang ada PHD. Kita ada apa? Khatam Al Quran 3 kali pun belum tentu. Setakat ada blog sendiri dan pandai maki-maki orang cakap Orang Putih?? Isy, tak bagus langsung...

Kalau cerita kat orang-orang tua di kampung, mesti mereka berkata, 'Dunia dah akhir zaman.....'

Kita sedar dunia dah semakin tua, tetapi mahukah kita menjadi umat yang paling sesat dan jauh melencong? Hormatilah Mufti dah tokoh-tokoh agama yang lain sementara kita masih ada tokoh yang boleh dijadikan sumber rujukan dan tempat mendapatkan bimbingan. 

Salam Nisfu Syaaban. Wassalam.

The neighbour from hell

I was reading MM's column on STAR online yesterday and the article reminded me of a neighbour I used to have when I was staying in Serdang. It was the semester that I decided to start living outside UPM campus. I rented a small room and was sharing with 2 senior girls. They were third year Bachelor students while I just started my first year then.

Roommate #1 was a Kelantanese girl, very cute, very talkative and had a boyfriend. Roomate #2 was from Selangor, her looks were rather unfriendly, quite reserved and didn't have a boyfriend.
Let's just call Roommate #1 Leen and Roommate #2 Leenda. Leen's boyfriend would come and fetch her at least 3 times a day: Morning lecture, afternoon lecture and dinner time. They're always together and quite a famous pair of love birds in her faculty.

Leenda was quite a lone ranger. She'd rather stay at home most of the times to do her assignments, read or just watched TV. Although she didn't look that friendly the truth was she's quite a chatter when the conversation really hit her interests. Things like hi-tech gadgets, AV and action movies were among her favorites. She's not so much of a gossiper. I tried digging a few things from her but her mouth were sealed. Leen and Leenda had been living in the house for more than 2 years, so I guessed she was trying to keep a few things from me.

Until one day they had a quarrel. I just got back from my afternoon electronics lab when I heard Leenda shouting in the room. A few minutes later Leen stormed out with red, swollen eyes. I saw her boyfriend was waiting for her outside the gate.

It took me about 10 minutes before I decided to enter the room and ask Leenda what it was all about. She told me she was just reminding Leen not to have her boyfriend coming to the house too often. Although he never came in, but he was seen so frequently in front of the house, waiting for Leen to get ready. I knew she meant well. It's just not appropriate to have a single guy coming to a single ladies' house that often. However, Leen told me that Leenda didn't take it too well. She accused her of being jealous.

So, I told Leenda that perhaps the best thing to do is just stay away from Leen's business. She should realize the consequences especially having to deal with society judgement.

That's when Leenda told me the story about our neighbour.

The family house on our right didn't look like any other house in the neighbourhood. A translated Quranic verse was written with red paint on the wall. I never really take a close look at the writing. I thought it was just some graffiti by their children. Leenda told me that the Quranic verse was on 'zina'; a reminder to everybody to stay away from 'zina'.

According to Leenda, the neighbour, let's just nicname him Pakcik K (K for Karut) had always suspected that my housemates were bringing back their boyfriends to stay overnight. Pakcik K even called the 'surau people' to come and raid the house. The 'surau people' believed him and came to the house one night only to find a few ladies watching TV in baby-Ts, shorts and 'kain batik'. (I thought, they must be enjoying the view then...) They checked the rooms, bathroom and kitchen too. That's just too much, I think.

Afraid that the 'surau people' would come again, Leenda had no choice but to warn Leen about her boyfriend. Leen was aware of Pakcik K's obsession but she decided not to really care. After I knew the story I started to notice that Pakcik K would shoot looks of disapproval at us all everytime he passed in front of the house. His wife didn't like us too I think, as she never returned my smile.

It's rather strange and I thought it's not fair for Pakcik K and wife to judge us like that. They must've looked at us as sinners and thought boys were coming to the house for wild parties every other night.

One day, I just came back from lunch and found both Leen and Leenda rolling on the floor laughing, their faces were red and Leen was almost crying. I asked why and what has happened. It seemed rather funny as a few days earlier they were at each other's throat.

Leenda, who didn't have lecture that morning was at home alone. She did her laundry and was about to hang her pail of clothes at the patio when she heard strange noise coming from Pakcik K's house. She put her pail down slowly and started peeping through Pakcik K's sliding door. Their ceiling fan was on so the curtain moved a bit. Leenda couldn't really see what's happening inside but she could hear the noise more clearly. There were sounds of male and female voices moaning and groaning and it gets louder.

Leenda then stood on a stool near the wall between our houses to have a closer look. She could see there were two children (Pakcik K's sons) in front of the TV, watching hardcore p0rn video!!! Pakcik K and wife were out at work that morning and it was school holiday. Seemed like his two sons took the opportunity to get some extra 'education'.

When Leen and Leenda were done laughing, I asked them... 'Whose p0rn videos do you think those were?' They looked at each other and screamed 'PAKCIK K's!!!!!' And we laughed hysterically until the three of us were exhausted and hungry.

After that incident, I couldn't look at Pakcik K's face and not laugh.  PERVERT!

And when I think about it now, Pakcik K must have had some wild imaginations on what's going on in our house that he became that obsessed. Hmph... we should've reported to the 'surau people' about his possession of p0rn material. And I can't help but wonder what his two sons turn out to be now.

I have this benjol on my forehead

This family (part of the family actually) picture was taken on 1st day of Raya. I inspected my face and notice the benjol on my right forehead. It has been there for quite some time but previously it was not that obvious. Not sure whether it has gotten bigger or perhaps my face has shrunk a bit after the delivery. But lately a few people have asked, 'What happened to your forehead?'

I got it after Shawqi 'attacked' me while I was resting in bed. He came out of nowhere, jumped onto the bed and before I could do anything his hard chin was hitting my forehead. It was painful, but I didn't expect to get this bump. The incident happened late last year, I think and this bump is still there. Is it going to be permanent? Is it going to grow? Huh, so scary. If it grows, it will look like a horn. Am I going to be starred in the next Hell Boy movie? Huwaaaa!!!

I think I should see a doctor but not sure which specialist to go to. Can anyone recommend? Is this related to bone, skull or nerves? If any doctor is reading this, besides the bump, there's no other symptoms such as vomiting or splitting headaches or external bruises/bleeding. However, if I press it really hard, it would hurt a bit. The funny thing is, after getting this bump I don't experience headaches any more. Even if I don't get enough sleep or driving under the hot sun. I wonder if this bump has somehow done some corrective actions to my brain. Well, that's good but I feel disfigured and is considering wearing jilbab/burqa when I start work in late October.

Besides that, perhaps I should attend the next audition for Hell Boy III. Who knows, kan? They might be searching for Mak Jin bertanduk satu. BTW, sapa dah tengok Jin Notti, sila tulis review.

Chicken Resurrection

Remember the Chicken Stories? Part 1 and Part 2 were posted here a few years ago.

Just when I thought all these chicken have died and gone to heaven, suddenly they reappeared and the story gets more interesting than the previous chicken.

So, there were these 2 numbers that frequently graced my cell phone screen for the past few months. One was a 014 while the other was a 017 number. Both tend to call me a few times a day regardless whether I picked up or not. Whenever I did pick up, the other party wouldn’t speak. Whenever I called back, I could only hear wind gushing in the background or children voices but couldn’t be certain whose children were those. I tried calling those numbers using my office phone and my friend's cell phone but to no avail. Obviously those numbers were only used for Chikening activities.

The 017 chicken also liked to text me with funny messages. They’re not funny like Simpson cartoon series or Jay Leno’s one liners. They’re funny because the language used was those of ‘kutu-kutu di tepi jalan’, if you get what I mean. Some of them were: ‘Apa cer skang?’, ‘Td gua jpe Z, napa lu Xde?’. Beb, gua takde pun kawan nama Z. There were a few others but I failed to decipher the meanings. I never replied to those text messages as I assumed they’re sent to me by mistake.

Last month, our Internal Support team decided to block Facebook in the office. Many of us resorted to updating our statuses in our internal Instant Messaging system. We might have lost contact with the outside world (via FB) but we could still express ourselves to our work colleagues. That's better than nothing, right? It was hilarious reading all the frustrated staff’s status updates – mostly were swear words and caci maki to IS team for being so inconsiderate and childish. Apa lah sangat kalau staff guna Facebook kat office, makin productive what….

Anyway, it was quite entertaining to read statuses like 'Kembalikan FB kuuuu!', 'Dah block FB, tapi bandwidth performance sama jeeee!', 'I hate this new Firewall.' , 'F*ck the stoopid policy' etc etc etc. If there's a popularity graph in the office, our IS manager's must have been plunging to the floor that week.

One morning I was requested to attend to a problem in P*tr* P*rd*n* at Jalan Ipoh. Since it was just a simple Oracle Database troubleshooting I decided to leave my laptop in the office and updated my IM status to 'Pegi P*tr* P*rd*n* pagi ni.' I carpooled with Mrs. S to Jalan Ipoh. Half way trough troubleshooting the problem on site, I heard my cell phone beeping indicating an incoming text message. When I read the message, I think all colour drained from my face. It was from that 017 chicken and the message was: 'P*tr* P*rd*n* tu kat mana daaa?' It took me quite some time to decide what to do next.

I texted the 017 Chicken back: 'Who is this? I don't save your number in my phone book.'

The Chicken never replied.

I just sat down in front of the Oracle DB server contemplating on telling Mrs. S about it. Damn.... this Chicken is my own work colleague!!

Borak-borak petang Jumaat

If you’re using Apple iTunes you’ll understand this better. And if you’ve seen all the song titles in my iTunes library, you’ll understand this even better.

Well, iTunes software has this sharing feature whereby you can allow other users in the same LAN/network segment to play the music from your library without noticeable performance degradation on the owners’ workstation (very the opposite of Windows’ shared folders. Try running a window application from your friend’s PC. It’d slow his/her workstation and sometimes it would just hang). For shared iTunes library, you can play, but you cannot download the other person’s songs or Podcast.

In my office many choose to use iTunes instead of Windows Media Player especially the gym-goers because most of us have iPods (Nano, shuffle and even iPhones).

The shared libraries’ names can be just anything; there’s Pustaka Mus1c, My Stupid Songs, Limah’s Muzique etc.

So, I named my shared iTunes library as Makcik Punye (ala-ala cute macam iklan Cuticura zaman 80an dulu – Adik Punye! Adik Punye! Kalau ko tak tau iklan tu, Nampak sangat ko ni generasi SMS). I have been using this name since Jan 08. Most of my colleagues, especially the gym-goers know that this library belongs to me. Whenever they saw new interesting songs I just ripped, they’d come to me with their thumb drives or DVD-RW. We also share song playlists for cardio sessions. (Well, one of the security features of iPod is that you can’t simply synch your iPod with other people’s iTunes library – hence the copying activity).

There was a time another colleague renamed his/her library as Pakcik Punye – nak tumpang glamer aku la tu.

Yesterday, as I was trying to LLB (look like busy), I launched my iTunes and was really surprised to see a new library named ‘Makcik Punye, please call me at xxxx. I want to copy your songs’. I spent a good 2 minutes laughing in front of my workstation. The rest of my floormates were eyeing me suspiciously because I’d only laughed like that when I was about to lose my mind or when a certain hormone was at an uncontrollable level.

At first I thought I wanted to change my library name to ‘xxxx cuba teka sapa saya’. But then, I was afraid that the rest of my colleagues would change their library names to ‘Makcik tu nama dia Dayang’. Or worse, ‘Jangan kawan ngan Makcik tu, library dia penuh dengan lagu Datuk CT’.

In the end, I searched the phone extension in the company address book and found out the library owner was someone who has been in so many meetings with me. So, I just sent him an instant message asking, ‘Ko nak lagu CT Nurhaliza ke?’ That fella actually looked like some guy who’d only listen to Metallica or Pearl Jam. Paling cikai pun, Linkin Park lah. So, his reply was ‘Ciss kau Dayang rupanya’. Terus dia melupakan niat nak meng’copy’ lagu-lagu aku. Moral of the story, don’t judge a person by his/her iTunes library. Walaupun iTunes library aku penuh dengan lagu Datuk CT, tapi sebenarnya ada gak lagu omputih yang ganas dan best.

Update on my supposed-to-be-bought-last-weekend-iPhone: I decided to put it on hold for 6 months or so. My colleague calculated the total cost of ownership – it’s not worth it. Let’s see whether there’ll be more attractive packages and plans in 6 months’ time.

Boleh beli apa dengan RM10K?

Banyak sangat ke RM10K? Kalau tanya golongan shopaholic macam makcik ni ada macam-macam jawapan yang boleh didapati.

RM10K boleh beli:
1. 3 bijik handbag Coach dari musim terbaru
atau
2. 2 pasang kasut Gucci
atau
3. 2 utas jam tangan Tag Heuer
atau
4. Downpayment kereta Toyota Vios
atau
5. Renovate wet kitchen
atau
6. Pegi Mekah (itupun kena tambah jugak lagi beberapa ribu - sebab nak shopping kat Madinah dan Mekah)
atau
7. Seutas rantai tangan kat Habib Jewel
atau
8. Holiday kat Gold Coast (itupun, kena pegi sorang-sorang aje lah.... sebab kena ada duit untuk shopping sakan juga)
atau
9. Satu set bilik tidur IKEA (itupun sebab IKEA tu kat Europe kira budget furniture. Kalau nak beli perabot import dari Italy, alamatnya dapat armchair sebijik aje)
atau pun
10. Bayar hutang credit card.

Itulah pasal, kalau tanya dengan golongan makcik-makcik, RM10K tak de le sebesar mana nilainya. Makcik-makcik sukar nak dikelabukan matanya dengan duit RM10K tu. Kalau nak kawinkan anak, kurang-kurang kena pakai RM50K sekarang ni. Itupun belum termasuk barang hantaran dan mekap pengantin.

Kalau nak dapat jawapan-jawapan yang lebih menarik dan betapa besarnya nilai RM10K, kita tak boleh tanya makcik, kita kena tanya para PEMUDA. Ye tak?

KL Love Stories: Part 2

For every love affair is always multifaceted, before you decided to do it (having extra marital affair that is) just stare deeply into your spouse's and children’s eyes. Spend more time with older people, your parents especially as they will remind you about a lot of things – especially about keeping the family happy, having the mutual trust and respect which is much required for a successful married life.

The love story: Part 2 - The other side of the story

Marlia realized she has been too busy keeping up with career and family demands she hadn’t saw her close girlfriends for many months. Zulfan, her husband had not been able to help out a lot these days. She had to do almost everything from dawn to bedtime herself.; preparing her 2 kids for school, going to work from 9 to 5, fetching the kids in the afternoon and later coaching them with the homework. Zulfan had been rather busy. They’re seeing less and less of each other.

Whenever dining alone, Marlia couldn’t help wondering whether Zulfan had had his dinner or still preparing some report or plan or proposal whichever document he needed to submit soonest. She’s not Superwoman but she tried her best to keep the house in order, did the chores herself and by 11pm she would be lying exhausted in bed – alone. This went on for a few months. Lethargic and company deprived, at times Marlia just lost it in front of the kids. She didn’t break down; sometimes she was oversensitive over petty things that she’d scold the kids without any particular reason. Although the kids were too small to understand the whole thing she was going through, they knew she was upset.

Marlia didn’t know how long she could cope up with all that; she was contemplating quitting her job so that she could just concentrate on her family when she received a phone call from a stranger,

‘We don’t know each other and we’ve never met before,’ the man on the other line said. Marlia was confused and at the same time her heart was pounding inside. What’s all these?

‘I just want to tell you that your husband has got a big problem.’ He wanted to tell her something, but seemed like he wanted to play a game first.

‘Just tell me straight up, don’t keep me guessing. Who are you?’ Marlia was not a naturally patient woman. She needed to know there and then.

‘You don’t have to know me, but I will call you again,’ he’s still trying to fish her into the game.

‘If I don’t know you, then stop calling me, damn it!’ there, she lost it and the stranger slammed the phone after hearing her scream.

Her heart was pounding so loudly when she dialed Zulfan’s number. She related the whole weird conversation she just had with the stranger. Zulfan paused for some time before telling her that they’ll talk about it when he came home that night.

Marlia didn’t want to guess what was going on although her instinct was telling her that Zulfan might be having an affair with another girl. The girl could be the caller’s sister, girlfriend or even wife. She tried not to think about it but the possibilities kept popping in her head for the rest of the day.

That night Zulfan told her the whole truth (or perhaps all the things that he thought should be shared with her at that stage of discovery). It was true; he had an affair with some guy’s wife and regretted it. He told her it was more than just having dinner together. She refused to listen to more details; she knew she would throw up if he started talking about what they did behind closed doors.

Marlia felt like she was pinned to the chair throughout Zulfan’s confession session. She had every right to be angry and threw plates or furniture at him. He deserved it, but she decided not to. Marlia kept her cool, listened attentively at his every word. She tried not to sound jealous, angry or bias. Zulfan apologized – twice if she remembered correctly. She didn’t say she’d forgive him. Then, she decided to give him a short lecture. Nothing emotional; she just told him straight in the face what a fool he had been and in the future she would always remind him to stay away from extra marital affair. Zulfan was silent when she gave her piece of mind. He looked miserable but Marlia couldn’t tell whether he’d repent.

The next day Marlia and Zulfan went to see the stranger and then learned that his name was Shahril. He came with his 1 year old daughter. Sarah decided not to come and meet them face to face as she claimed she was still traumatized by the whole thing. Zulfan and Marlia knew it was just a lame excuse. If she started the whole thing, then what was the trauma all about? Marlia’s best guess was that she was traumatized by Zulfan’s rejection.

Zulfan apologized to Shahril again but it was clear he’s not ready to forgive him. It was rather tense when Zulfan apologized again and again but Shahril stuck to his opinion. Surprisingly Marlia told Shahril to relay the message to Sarah that she’d forgiven her for whatever she’d done although she never said sorry for having the affair. Marlia knew she didn’t want to have a prolonged issue with a selfish, stupid bitch. That was when she decided she’d just want to forget the whole thing, turn over a new leaf and give Zulfan another chance.

She could have just left him; she didn’t have any problem surviving alone as a single mother. Being betrayed, no matter how subtly it was handled and discussed over it still hurt like hell. But she knew it was not a good time for her being selfish or cry over spilled milk; she decided to nurse her own wound and start making the marriage worked better – for the sake of her innocent children.

KL Love Stories

I don’t write romances and my friends call me ‘heartless’. But as much as I love true ghost stories, I also love listening/reading about real love stories – usually those that don’t end with ‘happily ever after’ cliché. So, for this (bloody boring) holiday season, I present you a few love stories that will come in 3 installments. Watch this URL for more.

Love story 1:

Sarah’s marriage was not on the rocks, she was just unhappy. That was when she met Zulfan, a father of 2 who has been loyal to the wife ever since the day they tied the knot. Sarah’s husband loved her and their firstborn. He loved them so much he did everything for her. There was nothing wrong with the marriage, but Sarah was just plain unhappy. She didn’t feel that the husband was treating her right or love her enough.

When she saw Zulfan she started to like him immediately. There was something about him that made her feel special. He was funny, witty and a great company. Sarah knew he’s married and vice versa. But they continued seeing each other together with friends and sometimes they had the opportunity to be alone – just the two of them.
Zulfan played along well in the game. A carefree woman who laughed at his jokes was quite good to find. He listened to her whining about her unhappy marriage and a husband who didn’t try to understand her. Spending time with another adult woman who could discuss adult issues wouldn’t hurt – or so that’s what Zulfan thought initially.

As they grew closer, Sarah couldn’t fight her feelings any more. She realized she has started to fall for Zulfan – or so that’s what she thought then. At the same time she started fantasizing having Zulfan as her life partner instead of her nagging husband. Maybe Zulfan can take her away from her miserable life. He looked like somebody who’s doing very well at the DOLLAR department. His looks, his clothes, his wheels and even his address suggested that the figures of his bank accounts were impressive. And yet, he was so down to earth and understanding. Sarah knew that Zulfan might be her way out – out of her currently miserable marriage. That’s when she started taking more aggressive steps.

Zulfan knew he’s in trouble when Sarah started telling her feelings towards him. He could live with having another woman or a few just for fun and flirting around. But when she started coming strong on him, he knew it’s time to back off. He told her that didn’t want to be part of the unhealthy game anymore and she was devastated. The embarrassment and frustration was too much, she had to share it with her husband – but tweaked the story a bit. She made it as though Zulfan was the one chasing her.

Woman being woman (emotional, impatient and stupid at the same time) Sarah didn’t realize the consequences until her furious husband and his friend paid Zulfan a visit. They went to give him a firm warning. Zulfan walked totally out of her life soon after. He had nothing to lose, thus he didn’t give a damn. However, what’s done was done. Sarah’s marriage was not the same. Her husband couldn’t forgive her and Zulfan – not just yet. When the time comes, maybe he might. Now that the damaged is done, Sarah knew she had screwed one of the best things that have ever happened to her – her marriage.

These days, when she looked at her baby she couldn’t help thinking of what could have become of her little girl if she’d walked out of the marriage. Although she was still angry and embarrassed of her stupidity, she was glad she didn’t go too far and today she still has her precious family. It’s time to learn how to love her husband again.

Love story 2 coming up next….. be patient ya…

Between Go-Blog and Goblok

First and foremost, the link to WarkahBuatPM is:

http://warkahuntukpm.com.my/

By right, you should be directed to the following website:



In case you're getting a site with pictures of chimpanzee superimposed on Pamela Anderson's body, that means the website has been hacked. I bet a few thousand hackers have been trying their luck ever since this website's URL shown on RTM.

If you have a lot of time and tired of writing endless complaints as well as constructive ideas on your blog, you can submit a posting on this website. Let's hope Pak Lah has already owned a PDA phone so that he could check and read each post carefully wherever he is. (No excuse to sleep during meetings anymore, okay. Got a lot of postings to read now!)

Perenggan seterusnya akan ditulis menggunakan Bahasa Melayu kerana saya ingin memperkasakan lagi penguasaan Bahasa Melayu saya sebagai persediaan untuk mengirimkan Warkah Buat PM ini. Walaubagaimanapun, apa yang saya ingin perkatakan ini tiada kaitan dengan PM mahupun menantunya yang terkenal itu.

Saya cuma ingin menulis berkenaan perkhidmatan menadah telinga yang kadang-kadang terpaksa saya sediakan kepada beberapa orang kawan, samada rapat ataupun tidak. Adakalanya saya memang dengan rela hati menadahkan telinga untuk mereka meluahkan rasa tidak puas hati ataupun masalah peribadi masing-masing. Tetapi, makin lama saya merasa semakin tidak berkemampuan untuk memuaskan hati mereka. Sungguhpun pada mulanya mereka akan meminta saya untuk sekadar mendengar masalah mereka, tetapi ada juga kalanya mereka mengharapkan saya mampu memberikan penyelesaian kepada masalah mereka.

Oleh kerana saya tidak pernah mengikuti sebarang kursus Psikology, maka ilham saya semakin tandus untuk menyajikan penyelesaian ataupun cadangan yang sepatutnya membuat mereka ini lebih bersemangat untuk meneruskan kehidupan. Malangnya, kadang-kadang cadangan saya membuatkan mereka ini berkecil hati dan menarik muka serta muncung yang panjang mengharapkan saya menyuarakan sesuatu yang lebih menyedapkan hati mereka. Dalam erti kata lain, mereka hanya ingin mendengar apa yang mereka harapkan. Jika cadangan itu tidak menyebelahi mereka, mereka akan menunjukkan rasa hampa yang selalunya akan membuatkan saya pula sakit jiwa.

Jadi, kepada mereka yang sering memerlukan perkhidmatan tadahan telinga ini saya ingin memberikan dua cadangan kepada mereka:

1. I have better things to do, why don't you just go and blog about it?

2. Mamat tu memang dah tak hingin kat kau, apahal lah kau ni goblok sangat?

Pheewwwwww..... I'm about to lose more friends, I know....!

What if you only have 3 ringgit?

The furniture installers from the furniture shop were supposed to come at 3pm. I was in the office at 12.10pm taking my sweet time returning calls and deleting junk mails from my inbox (yeap, emails from sub-cons, some of them fall under the junk category now... hehehehe).

Suddenly my cell phone rang, well it didn't really rang, you could hear Tam's husky voice singing Mabuk whenever people called me. My boss hates my ringing tone, that's why I'm not going to change it.

It turned out the furniture installers were already on their way to my house. I was rather mad because I was supposed to go to a customer's place which was at The Mall, KL during lunch hour. My initial plan was to rush home after the meeting so that I could supervise the wardrobe installation. I scraped the plan and threw it into the bin while making a mental note to make a courtesy call to my customer later.

I packed my laptop bag, locked the pedestal and headed to the car park. Since they told me they were arriving in 40m minutes' time, I decided to make a stop at the food court near LDP toll plaza for a quick lunch. I went to get nasik campur and sirap limau and was about to recite Bismillah when I realized I forgot to make a stop at the ATM and only have three ringgit in my wallet. Shite! Terus menyumpah, tak jadi nak baca Bismillah!

I started doing some congak-congak and prayed that the food and drink would cost less than 3 ringgit. When the towkey came to bring my bill I closed my eyes imagining the unimaginable. After a blink, then I saw what he wrote on the paper (as usual, a piece taken from a ciggie box).... 5 hinggit!!! I continued eating and maintain ayu, while my oversized brain was busy trying to locate where could my coins be. In the glove compartments? Under the carpet? Somewhere at the bottom of my handbag?

I didn't finish my lunch, lost my appetite and tension macam nak gile. I took out my 3 ringgit, unzipped the coin pocket and took out all the coins I have inside to sort them on the table. After fumbling for 30 seconds, I managed to get 5 hinggit! The towkey gave a pity smile when I handed over the money, especially when he saw my 5 cents. LoL.

Just when I thought I have things being taken care of, I came to another realization when I turned the car ignition: How in the world am I going to pay for the toll? Arghhhh!!!!! Thats when I started digging every inch of the car looking for coins that could've fallen or deliberately thrown because usually yours truly didn't have enough time to think of where to put loose change. Iye, saya bodoh piang boleh tahan.

Finally, after flipping the carpet, sifting the documents in the glove compartment and emptying the coin compartment (lah, keta aku memang ada coin compartment pun tapi selalunya aku letak tin Nescafe kat situ), I managed to get RM1.60 for LDP toll. Phew!!! Legaaaaa!

Lessons learned today:
1. Don't rush regardless of what's going to happen or what people expect of you
2. Keep enough money in the car. Well, at least an amount that could buy you lunch and pay for toll.
3. Jangan layan sangat furniture installer ni. Dah aku kata pukul 3, pukul 3 laaaa...

Are you afraid to sleep in the dark?

Last night I had the scariest nightmare of all time. Well actually I had 2 nightmares, with a short interval (sebijik macam Hindi movie). In the first one, I was at my mom’s place watching her and my elder brother (how awkward because this never happens in real life) doing the dishes after lunch. We were chatting happily when all of a sudden a black snake appeared in the kitchen sink. I was screaming at the top of my lungs while my mom and elder brother just froze; exactly like when you press the Pause button on your DVD remote control. But the snake and only the snake moved; it was staring at me with its green, shiny, mean eyes. That was when I woke up with a shudder, drenched in sweat and was coughing hysterically; I thought my throat was going to pop out.

When the cough subsided, I threw off the blanket and wiped my sweat before entering the dreamland again. I thought I'd be able to just shake the image of the black snake and have a peaceful sleep, boy I was wrong.

The second nightmare was even scarier: I was in a horror flick. I didn’t know how it started but I was starred in a horror movie. It was about local university students turning into cannibals. The backdrop was a residential college where male and female students stayed in unisex dormitories. I guess you can picture the place, with beds lined up on two sides of the dorm, shared toilets, laundry room and surau (hmph, I just described an asrama sekolah co-ed).

So, in this residential college there are 3 groups of teens (gosh, I was starred as a teenager in this movie – I couldn’t help but wonder why): the good ones, the bad ones and the don’t-care ones (pelakon tambahan a.k.a pak pacak ajelah diorang ni). I belonged to the good teens group (yippee).

I didn’t know how the movie started, all I could remember was it was just any normal college life until one day one of the guys from the don’t-care teens’ group disappeared. His remains were later found in the nearby bushes – half eaten. Police started investigating the case and found the bite marks were from human, not to mention the saliva and other biological proofs found on the remains – all belonged to a few other human. While the police was busy investigating, collecting samples etc, a few more teenagers from the don’t-care group disappeared and were later found in a condition similar with the first victim.

My group – the good teens, suspected that a few of the bad teens were cannibals. Their appearances were deceiving: one was mamat surau (OMG, mamat surau living in a co-ed dorm!), one was a Maths tutor and the rest were top scorers in class.
We started to spy on the bad teen group. Much to our surprise, they had a kind of ritual each night. I don’t know how to describe here but it was an unusual ritual, lah; with incoherent chanting, circling big fire in thongs and all those stuff.

Soon after the bad teens found out that my group knew about them, they started hunting us down – one by one. That was the time when my friends started disappearing one after another until I was the only one left (was I the heroine of this horror flick, then? Hmmmm… maybe).

The climax of the movie was the chief cannibal (that mamat surau off course!) was chasing me all around campus. I had to fight him with whatever I could find: broomsticks, waste paper basket, bricks etc. In the end, I lost and the chief cannibal ate me. Scary, huh? Any writer interested to put this on the silver screen?

So, this morning I woke up with a very foul mood and the stupid traffic added more to it. If that's not enough, my x-boss rubbed some more salt by telling me the increment I'm getting this year - which is so ciput I'd rather act in a cheap horror flick.

Well, anybody would like to 'menterjemah' the nightmares? Sila... sila...

Working not sleeping.

What a joyous season, it's cold but not snowing. It's silent because nobody's here. It's hectic, but I'm not cooking ... nor baking ... nor ushering guests. It's all of the above because I'm working hard in the data center far far away from civilisation.

I know, it's hectic but why in the world am I updating my blog? So, I think you have to know that rule number one of my job: Waiting is part of the job scope.

Install one component - wait.
Configure one component - wait.

The human have to wait while the machine does its work - processing data.

What makes the human lose sanity? After hours of waiting for the machine to do its work, the machine gives an error code saying it just fails on the last part of its work. Damn!

Normal people who are so used to using Microsoft windows would say, 'If it fails, re-install, lah...'

Well, firstly people like me who do all these high end computer thingy are abnormal.
Secondly, comparing installing software on your PC to high end computer installation is like comparing building a small toilet to building a 20 storeys apartment.

This is one of the moments when I'd like to scream 'I HATE MY JOB! I HATE IT!' to the whole world. Since this place is so far from civilisation, I decided to just set one of my passwords to 'f*ckIT'.

Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends! and have a happy New Year.

Misunderstood me.

When it comes to men, you wanna know what I hate most (besides B.O)?

This scenario:
Let’s say, I have this great conversation with a decent looking man where we share lots of insane laughter and exchange of endless silly stories mixed with some really intelligent ones, and then all of a sudden he says,

“Hey, where were you 10 years ago? I wish I had known you then.”

I really hate that.

What is he really implying?

Is that some kind of flirting going on here? Or he’s trying to tell me that he thinks I’m trying to flirt with him and by all means he’s okay with it? Or it’s a kind of test? Or he’s indirectly trying to ‘mengumpan’ me in case I am something in between Gabby of Desperate housewives and Samantha of SATC?

Or maybe it’s one of those lame pick-up lines he needs to practice just to know the possible results if he uses it on single girls. Aiseh, wrong guinea pig for the wrong experiment lah brother.

I know for sure I’m an accidental flirt. I always mean well, but the body language, voice and eye contacts suggest otherwise. I’m famous for sending all the wrong signals. I need to learn on how to synchronize my mind with my body language.

It’s difficult. Especially during my first few months at Uni. You see, I was from an all girls’ school. It’s so normal to tease a friend then ‘angkat-angkat kening’ just to irritate her more. But when I did that to boys, they thought I was trying to flirt with them. Aiyyoh.

Those days, sometimes I wished I could wear a sticky note on my forehead that read: ‘I make a lot of silly jokes and enjoy teasing people, but trust me I’m not trying to flirt with you.’ Translated to BM it should read, “Aku memang macam ni, aku bukan nak ngorat engkau.”

Since I couldn’t find a 5inch X 5inch yellow sticky note then, I only managed to tell a few female friends about it. One of them had the guts to tell me,

‘Ye, kau ni kadang-kadang memang nampak gatal.’

An even gutsier friend said this:

‘Kau tu aku tengok rajin sangat melayan, itu pasallah diorang tu jadi perasan.’

I think I have this problem till today. Being friendly, attentive (puke), attractive (puke some more), bubbly and talkative can cause a lot of misunderstanding. You know, lah… the male species. They’re damn good at deciphering signals that they can’t detect the un-encrypted ones. Most of the times, “No” means NO. Get it?

Because of all these uninvited problems, I have been wearing my ‘garang’, ‘sombong’ and unapproachable looks for some time. An older work colleague once told me that before he got to know my name, he nicknamed me as the girl with the ‘jangan main-main dengan aku’ look. I guess many people fear me by now. Hmmmm…. That’s good. Suddenly I have this really nice and comfortable feeling. Must continue with the Warbook game, my General and the Kingdom has been neglected for some time.

Ikat Perut Mode

I’ve been pigging out like nobody’s business at the open houses and at KT last weekend. This morning I woke up with a new resolution. Ikat perut to the max. You can take that literally. If I could find a c-sect scar friendly traditional girdle, I’ll be tying my abs for the next month or so. Heh, all women wants to look pretty in the mirror, prettier than their friends and the prettiest girl in the husband’s eyes, right?

So, when the pants suddenly felt tighter than usual and the bathroom scale is telling that you’ve gain some unneeded pounds, the only thing that comes to mind is ‘God, I’m getting fatter!’ When I rummaged through my lingerie drawer this morning, I was so frustrated to realize that I’ve thrown away my old girdle I used to wear to office after giving birth to Shawqi.

Argh, had to resort to plan B: Do some cardio exercise during lunch hour.

Sometimes I’m amazed at my level of intelligence (perasan alert! Please don’t puke). Other than burning an extra 1,500KCalories (if I do it every work day), it will also prevent me from my usual impulse buying and those expensive lunches. However now I have to come up with a plan on how to sustain the energy level from 9 a.m until the time I complete my workout. It seemed like I’ll either have to start cooking in early morning or ‘tapau’ something from the breakfast stalls.

Another strong reason for all this ‘ikat perut’ thingy is that my car road tax and insurance are expiring this month and I forgot to set aside enough money for this. Hehehehe. Iyelah, apasallah mati time after raya, memanglah makcik pokai. To make matters worse, Wazif will start his Primary One next year. I’m really lazy and afraid to do the math but I guess I’ll be in ‘ikat perut’ mode for the next 3 months. Itulah pasal, time shopping tak ingat dunia. Bila nak kena pakai banyak duit, baru nak insaf.

Maybe I should start a Cause in Facebook. It is going to be called ‘Help save the shopaholic moms during year end’. You can join, invite friends or donate. Hehehe. It’s a really good cause. You see, shopaholic moms are really generous people. You donate to me, I’ll belanja you later (when I have enough money to spend, spend and spend again).

That just reminded me that I need to buy that gorgeous cotton top at Ms Read. This is based on ‘need to’ basis okay, not the ‘have to’ basis. In case you’re confused, ‘need to’ means I really need it, like the plants that need water and the ‘kumbang’ that needs ‘bunga’. If I don’t have enough money to buy it, I will ‘pujuk sedaya mungkin’ my other half to buy it for me. Hihihihi.

‘Have to’ means something that I’ve gotta have because of some influencing factors like, there’s a long pants that will surely match with that blouse and the ensemble will make my waist looks 9 inches smaller or the girl at 5th floor told me once that I’ll look like a goddess if start wearing such cuts. Guys, please take note, okay. Woman is a mysterious creature. You have to know how to read between the lines (or between the comma, apostrophe and exclamation mark).

So, I actually went to the gym this afternoon for my cardio session and managed to burn off a total off 320 KCalories. Yeay, what an achievement! I walked out of the gym door wearing a very proud smile and headed to the nearest stall to buy some fruit juice. I was surprised to find an old Ah Pek operating the stall and he’s selling all kinds of Western and Chinese food. I looked around for the usual ‘brader’ but he’s not there. It occurred to me that he’s sold the business. Haiyya…. Too bad for me. Since my tummy was growling and it was already 2pm, I made a beeline to the ice-cream box and grabbed a Drumstick. Yeah, I know what you have in mind. There goes the 320 KCalories! Heh, I’m Dayang. I’m not good at doing simple Maths. That explains why I get along so well with bimbos. Hahaha.

So, do you think it's a hoax?

How many of you received The Salt Joke in your inbox or read about it in someone’s blog? It’s the one about a conversation between a Radio Announcer and a caller where the announcer (the emails said it was Yasmin Yusuff) asked the female caller what the everyday name for Natrium Chloride is. I received this joke at least 5 times and read about it in 2 weblogs. I never bought it.

The first time I read it was way back in 2002 at one of the US based Jokes websites. It’s a repository of a few thousand dirty jokes, too bad I’ve forgotten the URL. So, when the email started being circulated, I knew it’s a hoax.

When friends retold it during lunch or teh tarik sessions, I never interrupt them or spoil the supposedly ROTFL-worthy joke. Well, when Radio 4 and Yasmin Yusuff were part of the story, many people believed that it really happened.

I warned some of my close friends that the joke might not be true but they never believed me and kept on retelling it to people whom they thought have never heard it before.

Yesterday, I finally decided to hear it from the horse’s mouth. I messaged Yasmin Yusuff and asked whether the joke is true. It’s kind of funny actually. It was the first time I ran my spellchecker thrice. Hallo, when you’re sending a message to a Radio DJ you don’t want to make any silly mistake, right? I learned this after listening to ERA DJs making fun of the text messages they received during the morning show. I know Yasmin Yusuff is a very senior DJ and wouldn’t be unprofessional or unethical, but I guess, I was just taking the necessary precautions lah.

This morning she replied! I was so thrilled (jakun yang sebenarnya). It’s not everyday I’d get to see ‘Yasmin Yusuff has sent you a message.’ in FB, right? Hehehehehe.

Her answer was: it’s not true. No, people…. the joke is not true. It never happened at Radio 4. Yasmin Yusuff was never part of the joke. Confirmed, it’s a hoax.

To all my friends who have been retelling it to hundreds of people (especially those who were trying to become more popular) I think you have to take the joke back. May I suggest that you call us up and ‘belanja’ us a few rounds of Rojak Mee at Pelita as ‘makan berdamai’. Hahaha.

Ever since receiving a message from Yasmin Yusuff, I’ve become so inspired to learn more English. Although I’ve been writing here mostly using Manglish, I’m still trying my best use the language correctly. Usaha tangga kejayaan.

So, today let’s do a quiz (no Natrium Chloride related questions, I promise!)

What are the meanings of the following sentences?

1. Only the daughter praised her brother.
2. The only daughter praised her brother.
3. The daughter only praised her brother.
4. The daughter praised only her brother.
5. The daughter praised her only brother.

Each sentence has different meaning because the word ‘ONLY’ was placed differently. As a hint, I’ll give you the meaning of sentence No. 1. Only the daughter praised her brother means No one else praised him. Okay, you work out the rest. It’s time to exercise the mind….. Have fun y’all!

Nyariiiiisss kantoi

Nota: Usaha untuk menulis cerita dalam Bahasa Melayu

Bulan puasa dekat ofis ni meriah boleh tahan sebenarnya. Ada kuliah Ramadhan, ada majlis berbuka dan berterawih bersama-sama. Pagi petang ada tadarus Al Quran. Jumaat ni nanti ada pulak buat Bazaar Ramadhan nak bagi peluang dekat pekerja-pekerja yang bersemangat usahawan ni meniaga produk masing-masing.

Dalam pada sibuk dengan projek, tender dan menahan lapar dahaga ni, ramai jugak yang membelek fotopages yang memaparkan gambar-gambar kuih raya yang boleh diorder online/telefon/guna IM je. Sambil-sambil tu ramai juga yang tak habis-habis membelek latest Job Posting dekat Jobstreet, manalah tau kalau-kalau ada yang berkenan.

Kisah nyaris kantoi ni sebenarnya berlaku tengahari tadi, masa orang baru habis dengar kuliah Ramadhan. Aku tengah pura-pura busy update timesheet lah, buat claim lah... tiba-tiba ada orang hantar IM kat aku, tanya nak beli mercun dengan bunga api tak. Aku memang tengah nak cari bunga api pun. Price list memang dah dapat sejak semalam, tapi setakat ada nama mercun ngan bunga api je. Macamana rupa parasnya aku tak tau pun. Yang aku boleh imagine, Pop-Pop tu je lah.

Lepas tu, tokey mercun suruh aku turun kat floor dia tengok barang. Turun bawah, tengok-tengok ada lagi dua muka geng mercun macam aku jugak dah get ready nak inspect barang. Sorang tu pengantin baru, yang sorang lagi tu Mak Buyung.
Tokey mercun bawaklah kitorang bertiga masuk ke dalam satu stor kecik yang amat tersembunyi sekali lokasi nya. Luasnya adalah lebih kurang 4kaki X 5kaki.

Mula-mula tokey mercun bawak keluar gambar-gambar bunga api dengan mercun yang dia supply. Kitorang pun belek-belek lah sambil berdiskusi yang mana paling gempak, yang mana boleh nyala meriah macam KLCC time New Year. Kemudian tokey mercun pun me'reveal'kan barang-barangnya yang tersusun kemas dalam sebijik kotak server besar kat belakang pintu bilik tu. Kami pun bukan main kagum lagi melihat bunga api dan mercun yang beraneka jenis dan warna. Ada yang harga sampai lima nam ratus pun ada. Kalau bakar yang tu malam raya, rumah omak ekau kek kampung tu nanti jadik macam Stadium Paroi, Milah oiiii!
Yang paling excited belek bunga api tu adalah aku dan Mak Buyung tu. Mak Buyung tu memang pelanggan setia tokey mercun tu sejak dulu kala lagi. Jadi, dia memang arif bebenor le dengan produk yang tertimbun depan mata tu.

Tengah dok asyik berdiskusi, tiba-tiba aku ternampak seorang lelaki di sebalik daun pintu. Dia menghampiri seorang System Administrator di luar bilik kecik yang penuh rahsia itu. Kemudian, terdengar suara lelaki itu bertanya sesuatu kepada SA yang sedari tadi sedang leka melayan website kereta kesukaannya. Tiba-tiba, kami berempat di dalam bilik rahsia itu terdiam dan berbisik sesama sendiri, 'Alamak Mr. DS.....'

Tokey mercun perlahan-lahan menutup pintu bilik kecik itu dan menguncinya dari dalam. Kami semua menutup mulut menahan gelak sambil menahan nafas. Mr. DS sebenarnya ialah salah seorang big boss di sini. Dia memang old skool. Kalau siapa kantoi dengan dia memang selamat kena brainwash punya.

Tokey mercun yang sememangnya sedar perniagaan tak berlesennya itu bakal menghumbannya ke kancah 'tindakan disiplin' cepat-cepat menelefon akak secretary di luar. Mintak tolong bagi signal bila Mr. DS dah berlalu dari situ.

Tapi Mr. DS tu lama lah pulak bersembang dengan SA yang sorang tu. Di dalam bilik kecik tu pulak kami berempat dah berebut-rebut oksigen dan gabra nak mampus sebenarnya. Kalau Mr. DS ketuk bilik tu dan jumpa kami berempat tengah buat transaction di dalam suasana yang amat mencurigakan, mesti terus kena lecture dan-dan tu jugak. Masa tu aku asyik bayangkan reaksi Mr. DS tu kalau dia ternampak bunga api dengan mercun yang berbakul-bakul kat dalam kotak server tu. Hancurlah cita-cita nak dapat increment lebat tahun depan.

Lebih kurang 5 minit kemudian (yang rasa macam forever), barulah Mr. DS keluar dari situ. Akak secretary pun talipon tokey mercun mengatakan Mr. DS dah naik lift dan kami selamat untuk keluar dari situ.

Leganya tak terkata. Keluar aje, terus sambung semula diskusi bunga api mana nak beli. Kebetulan ada dua orang budak pompuan trainee kat luar tu, terkulat-kulat je memerhatikan kekalutan bebudak senior yang tak sedar diri ni.

Sebaik saja aku nak keluar dari situ, ada lagi pelanggan tokey mercun yang baru sampai sambil tersengih-sengih sebab dia awal-awal dah tahu kitorang nyaris kantoi ngan Mr. DS tadi.

System Upgrade! *puke*

I will be stuck in one of these buildings until middle of this month. This is one of the moments when I just hate Putrajaya, especially this Precinct where parking is impossible to get (even early in the morning) except the very expensive Secure Parking. The name is Secure, but I can't guarantee how secure it is as there was a robbery case there some time ago. Anyway, it was a 'pukau and samun' case, so can't really blame the parking operator.

I've been working here since last Friday and throughout the weekends. This customer is an account I'm very familiar with, but this time the whole system upgrade thing is so depressing. In the midst of yelling customer, angry users (hey, takde keje, boleh lepak... takkan marah kot?), impatient application engineers and hardware failures, it felt more like a war zone here. And I have to do system config in THIS environment... argh!!! It's just like trying to solve a very complicated differential equation at the 'pasar malam'.

To top up all the madness, the partner suddenly urged me to speed up a few activities. Hello! Project execution plan has been agreed upon and signed off months ago, no way I'm going to cut-short critical activities like these. This is one of the reasons why working in IT really sucks. Many IT managers (from the customer or partner's side) will always give instructions like: "I wanna have this resolved/done by tonight. By hook or by crook, the system must be ready by tomorrow! "

Although we work with machines, we're still humans. It's even sadder when some IT managers have never been in the field before. It's just like somebody from Accounts department being put as Technical Director. Wargh...! Very sickening.

Usually after this kind of madness, I will fall sick. If Boss doesn't allow me some time off, I'll definitely call in sick.

Did I mention earlier that the upgrade tasks require me to be standing in front of the console (which is about waist-high) for hours? After 5 days, every inch of my body is now aching. The worst thing is, I can't sleep well at night. This is going to be my Zombie week!

Ignorance Is Bliss

Can you imagine your hubby parading in your lingerie and most probably in your stilletos in front of the mirror? Hmmmm..... not a really good sight, unless your hubby is the fair and 'jambu' type with minimum hair on the parts other than his head (upper head I mean).

So, what should we do women of the Millenium.... should we catch our hubbies cross dressing?

Perhaps we can:
1. Drag him to his parents' place for a few hours of 'ceramah'?
2. Snap some pictures, enlarge and frame them?
3. Join the party, we cross dress as man?
4. Cry? (buat drama lebih-lebih sikit)
5. Give him a few hours of 'ceramah'?
6. Interrogate him? (kalau dah cross dress, mesti ada pasang jantan, nih!)

Life as a woman is getting more challenging these days. I wonder why many men want to become us.

Updated 3rd August (Spena's Birthday!) 2.34pm:

After Googling further (apasal la keje aku asyik mengGoogle aje sekarang ni?), I found proofs that the letter is not real. It's a spoof of "Dear Miriam" that appeared in a satirical publication. Kesian Dr. Miriam Stoppard, orang buat lawak macam ni kat dia....