Friday, January 27, 2006

RAGGING

Biasa dengar 'ragging'? Siapa yang pernah dok hostel, tak kira la masa sekolah ke uni ke, mesti tau apa itu ragging.

Aku masuk sekolah asrama dari Form One. Masa tu bodoh lagi, free-free je kena ragging masa minggu orientasi. Senior suruh nyanyi lagu Twinkle Little Star, suruh berdiri depan tingkap dan menjerit, kitorang ikut je hahaha :-) Takut ngan akak senior, especially yang muka ganazz macam Kak Hana & Kak Jam dulu. Tapi lepas tu, dek kerana ragging tu la, kitorang jadik kenal seniors, dan lama-lama jadik kamceng. By that time, segala kisah dan rasa perit kena ragging tu, dah jadik bahan ketawa sesama kitorang.

Girls kena ragging, benda kecik-kecik gitu je. Boys kena teruk sket la. Kena lari keliling padang, kena basuh kasut senior jam 2 pagi. Ada senior yang sadis, disuruh junior masuk bawah katil, pastu ditanya "ma rabbuka? ma rabbuka?" sampai menggigil la junior tu, tak reti jawab sebab tak paham Bahasa Arab. Lagi sadis, ada junior disuruh minum air sabun (jangan tiru!) atau berdiri peluk tiang sampai sejam.

Memang menyakitkan hati, tapi taklah mudarat sangat, lagipun dalam tempoh minggu orientasi je. In the end, it taught us humility & respect, and forged a stronger bond among us. Pelik kan, aku pun tak faham kenapa. Tapi aku rasa, memang ada bagusnya ragging tu. Mana budak yang kerek sebab rasa dirinya cantik/ hensem/ kaya/ anak somebody etc, cepat disedarkan dan dilentur jadi 'orang biasa'. Semangat comradeship dan camaraderie pun tinggi, ada sense of belonging, sampai sekarang we support each other. Cakap je nak cari apa, insyaAllah ada member boleh tolong.

Tapi tu dulu. Sekarang sekolah dah tak dak ragging. Dulu punya ragging harmless, tapi agaknya bila ada ragging sampai menyebabkan kecederaan fizikal, tu yang kena ban kot. Ataupun ketahanan bebudak sekarang tak macam dulu ke? Tapi bila not much interaction dan tak kenal batch lain, bebudak semua baik-baik dan ulat buku, rasa macam academic excellence tu tak berapa balance ngan other parts of life.

Kau pernah kena ragging? Story me la.

Incidentally (and this is out of topic) masa cari istilah 'rag' dalam kamus dwi-bahasa tadi, aku terjumpa 'ragamuffin'... dalam B.M ialah 'anak jembel'. Tak pernah dengar perkataan tu, learnt a new word today :-)

Thursday, January 26, 2006

FINALLY HAPPENED...

The inevitable has finally happened. For the past few years, I've waited in dread for this day to come, and it's finally here! Oh woe, be gone! Why me? Why now?

{Cut the crap, Jie. What in heaven's name are you talking about??}

Grey hair.

Grey hairs la, since I found two of 'em, TWO!

Haha I'm not that conscious la, tak kisah pun, saja nak jadi drama queen sekejap. Grey hair for someone in her 30s is OK la. Just that aku ni jarang sesangat membelek diri depan cermin. Selalunya nengok cermin sekadar perlu je i.e to make sure aku tak tersilap cucuk contact lense kat hidung, ataupun nak make sure lipstick aku tak sememeh {poyo!}. So petang tadi bila belek-belek, first time la terjumpa grey hair tu.

Does this officially make me a makcik? Nanti boleh mintak borang permohonan nak jadik Makcik Blogger kat Mak Andeh hehehe :-) Or is it those years of consuming enough MSG to poison hordes of rats masa kat boarding school & uni, that's caught up with me? Maybe it's time for me to fill up my Tabung Haji account *sigh*

Hek eleh grey hair, apa ada hal? Janji sihat, alhamduliLlah la.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

UNWELCOMED PRIVITY

Bila lah ruang ofis baru tu nak siap renovate? Tak sabar nak pindah! Bilik officer yang aku kongsi dengan 4 orang staf lain ni, dah rasa melemaskan. Meja rapat-rapat, berjalan selisih terlanggar pungkok, fail atas meja atas kerusi atas almari atas lantai, sorang tapau nasi lemak - 4 perut lain berkeroncong sebab ambik bau. Unwelcomed privity!

Tapi ada satu yang paling aku tak tahan - Bosan. Jemu. Jelik. Menyampah. Meluat.

Ada sekor jantan yang berlagak romeo, asyik main talipon dengan macam-macam pompuan. Kerani department lain. Staf pompuan panel service provider. Junior dia masa kat uni. Kawan satu kelas dulu. Kawan dia punya kawan satu kelas dulu. Kawan dia punya ex-awek. Pompuan yang dia jumpa kat karaoke. Agaknya kalau aci cleaner tu muda sikit, pun dia usya jugak.

{ hey babe, it's a free country, suka hati dialah Jie ooiii..... }

Masalahnya aku kenal bini dia, tengah sarat mengandung pun sekarang. Kalau bini talipon, suara dia mesti naik satu octave punya, manjang bini kena tengking la, marah la. Nak pinjam duit bini, nak suruh bini bayarkan duit talipon dia, pun suara dia masih naik satu octave. Baru dua minggu lepas dia mengamuk dalam talipon kat bini dia, sebab bini dia terjumpa sms dari pompuan lain. Bila bini dia ask about it, dia tempelak bini dia sebab berani bukak handphone dia, pastu dia ugut nak cari awek kalau bini dia tak percaya kat dia. Aku angkat punggung, blah dari bilik tu, tak sampai hati dengar dia maki bini dia dengan 'babi'. Ha'ah yelah panggil bini tu babi, malam karang yang babi tu jugak la kau peluk sebelum tido, kan?

Privity is usually a privilege, but in this case, privity is a curse! Bila lah ruang ofis baru tu nak siap renovate? Tak sabar nak pindah!

Friday, January 20, 2006

REFLECTIONS

Hello 2006,

You came, hope it’s not too late to welcome you.

I went on long leave from 28 December 2005 to 10 January 2006. With lots of public holidays, for the month of January, I practically work for a little bit more than two weeks but got paid for one month. Great, isn’t it? My two girls, Pana and Dinsy already settled with their routine at school, so one less headache for me though I’m still reeling from the financial damage they set prior to going back to school. Mahalnya nak membesarkan anak sekarang!

Looking back, 2005 practically was a good year. I delivered Dadam on 12 January, he turned one recently but in my eyes he's still a baby. Dadam is very attached to me compared to his elder sisters, till now I'm still successfully breastfeeding him. His dad, Yazoo said Dadam menyambut seruan kerajaan, pilih yang ORI (and not the cetak rompak one!).

I did the unthinkable to him on my birthday last Saturday, I shaved him bald! I can’t stand the sight of his very, very curly hair (even worse than Maggi Mee), most of the time people mistook him for a girl. You see, Dadam has the most long and curly eye lashes (he should be SILKY GIRL mascara model :) !), a very adorable brows and a pair of eyes that can melt anyone’s heart. I’m not gonna let my only boy be mistaken for a girl anymore, so drastic measures had to be taken. Now he looks so bald and ehem, macho, and most importantly look very much a boy, a baby version of Captain Jean Luc Picard!. I’m crossing my fingers his hair won’t be curly again. His sisters have curly hairs when they were babies, but they turn straight after I started cutting them.

Mid June, I got a new boss. Let’s call him Kapan. Kapan arrival was very much anticipated due to prior rumour. You see, my company is a subsidiary of a plc but the management never behave like one. A lot of hanky panky happened. The two big bosses have made sure their interest well taken care of if they were to be kicked out from the company. Cronyisme and irregularities happened like nobody’s business. Dengan kata lain, company ni macam bapak dia punya la… I'll story more about this later aa..

Having a new boss who came from the same profession is a blessing for me. He knows what value I contributed, thus I got my promotion in November. But it didn’t happened without drama. The ai-dee-ten-tee HR guy bungled on my benefits package. I protested to Kapan, you see I’m the kind of person who will fight for her rights. I can’t tolerate injustice, if it is beyond me, the least I’ll do is to voice it out. Kapan promises that when everything is straightened out, I will get the benefits backdated to November. Can I trust him, I don’t know! I believe if it is my rezeki I will get it, if it’s not, I guess I have to move on.

On personal note, me and Jie were delighted when Nore decided to leave godforsaken Seremban and winning her bread in KL. Friday never be the same ever! Good lunch with good companies, who could ask for more! Nore workplace is so happening, she managed to wrangled free tickets for show, we went to STOMP! last September, it was awesome! Hmm… PGL the Musical is coming up in February, Jie dear, are you interested?

With so many good things happened in 2005, I wonder how 2006 will be? Is it gonna be even better, or the battle at work will erupt full blown? Will I be the casualty of war, or will I survive triumphantly? So many questions left unanswered, I just keep on praying for the best. Allah works in mysterious ways, I’m sure everything that happened or will happened have their own blessings.

With that note, adios!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

GAMBAR KITA KAT DISNILEN


Awak awak... ari tu kan, kita gi Disnilen, kita jumpa banyak owang yang biasa kita tengok dalam katun kat tv tau. Kat mana Disnilen? Uuiiii... kat jauh! Kita naik kapeterobang, kita tido, dah bangun, dah tido balik, baru sampai tau.

Kat sana kita jumpa Miki. Kita dah lama minat Miki sebab kita ingat dia ni macho, tapi rupanya petot je dekat sama tinggi ngan kita.

Awak nengok Toy Story tak? Kita suka la Baz Laityer tu, walaupun dia penakut, muka bersegi, tapi dia ada roket, lagi best pada keta boipren kakak kita tau.

Kita pun suka Sinderela , sebab dia cantik. Tapi kita heran la, dia dok pakai kasut kaca tu, kaki dia tak melecet ke? Kalau pakai hari-hari mesti kaki dia naik kematu kan? Eh boipren dia Perin Chameng tu ensem awaaakk... kalau boleh kita pun nak boipren camtu. Tapi kan, kensel la, dia tu boya darat, pantang nampak pompuan cantik, isy isy...

Kita ada baaanyak gambar lagi sebab kita jumpa banyak katun. Tapi kan... kita ada amik satu gambar haram tau masa kat Disnilen. Uuuuuiiihhhh.... memang haram tahap najis mughallazah! Gambar peluk-peluk ngan yang bukan muhrim kita. Kita takut nak tunjuk kat mak kita gambar haram tu... tapi bila mak kita tengok, dia gelak aje. Apsal ek?



Sunday, January 01, 2006

WHAT LANGUAGE SHOULD YOU LEARN?

Couldn't resist to post this, haha :-)
Any sensei out there to teach me...?
Arigato gozaimasu!

You Should Learn Japanese

You're cutting edge, and you are ready to delve into wacky Japanese culture.
From Engrish to eating contests, you're born to be a crazy gaijin. Saiko!

NEW YEAR TAZKIRAH

Happy New Year 2006 etc etc. I'm not really into the celebrating of new year (no offence to those who do, ya) with all the fireworks & merriment. It is after all, the passing of one day and the start of another day. What I would celebrate is, the meaning or sentiment attached to a certain date. Reflect on the past, think of how to handle the future.

Having said that, I do wish that the future hold better things for all of us, insyaAllah. 2005 has been a year of awaking for me in many ways, and I hope to put the past in its place and step forward into the future with recharged batteries. Meanwhile, here's a little tazkirah which I got in an email recently, translated and shortened for easier reading.

Long ago, there lived a cruel & hateful king who always abused his subjects. One day, he fell very ill. All 'tabib' from the whole kingdom were called, but nobody could cure the king. Finally one old tabib concluded that the illness can only be cured by eating a certain type of deep-sea fish, which is unfortunately not in season at the moment. Some servants were despatched to the sea, lo and behold, they found an abundance of the off-season deep-sea fishes actually coming up to the surface of the water for them to catch. The king ate the fishes, and soon regained his health.

In another place, there lived a kind & beloved king who was always good to his subjects. He also fell ill, and the royal tabib concluded that the illness can only be cured by eating a certain type of fish which was in season and easily caught as they always come up to the surface of the sea. But when the people went to the sea, they couldn't find even a single fish of that type even though it was in season. The kind king soon died because of that illness.

The malaikat were stumped, and asked of Him "Ya Tuhan kami, why do you send those off-season fish to the surface and consequently the bad king is cured, meanwhile you hid away the in-season fish at the bottom of the sea causing the good king to die?"

Tuhan berfirman "Wahai malaikatku, the bad king once did one good deed and I have now repayed his good deed during his lifetime. When he comes before me in the afterlife, he will come with all his sins without any good deeds, and therefore he will be sent to the bowels of hell. The good king meanwhile, wronged me once in his lifetime, and he has been punished for that wrongness before he died. When he comes before me in the afterlife, he will come with pure goodness as his sin has already been retributed. He will go to heaven."

Lessons to be learned are :-

(1) Some wrongness are punished immediately, so that the sin is retributed in this world and not counted in akhirat. Have faith in this, to help us be strong in times of musibah.

(2) The musibah falling onto a person does not necessarily mean that he/she is a bad or sinful person. Have faith in this, to help us discard prejudice towards other people, and to increase our compassion to help others yang ditimpa musibah.

(3) If you have never had a bad incident, do not be content because who knows maybe the good things you've had so far are merely a 'cash repayment' of your good deeds so far, and you may be running out of good deeds for the afterlife. Have faith in this, so that we will always balance the worldly and the spiritual aspects of our lives.

(4) Lastly, maksud Allah siapa yang tahu? Nobody can predict, only He knows.

Wallahu'alam.