Monday, April 28, 2008

GIMME YO MONEY!


Driving around the neighbourhood last week, I was kinda surprised to see some new tenants occupying several newly opened shoplots area near my house. In all my years living in Kelana Jaya, this is the first time I've come across the likeness of them.

Two of them are licensed moneylenders.

The other three are bill collector companies.

What does this signify?

*shudder*

God help us all!

Monday, April 21, 2008

RANDOM READ

Spent a little time at Borders @ The Curve last week. Browsed around, not looking for anything in particular, randomly reading a little here and there. Among the many books I picked at, was a book on autism.


The author says that, when he was in medical school, the disorder affected 1 in 10,000 births in USA. Today, the odds are 1 in 150 births. Yowzers!


What causes autism? Environment? Pollution? Food? Genetics? Could be one of the reasons, or could be all of the reasons, science can't pinpoint the exact cause yet.


Scary.


Bukan scary because autism is shunned, no. An autistic person has every same rights as you and me, and more! But what is scary is how much the odds of affliction has increased in the last 50 years. What is scarier is that we don't know what causes it, thus we have no defense against it. And scariest, there is no cure for it.


OK, that's as far as I got on the random reading. Alamak, potong stim la hehehe :-)


Sorry!


Anyway, ada sorang kakak kat ofis aku, anak bongsunya ada down syndrome, dah belasan tahun jugalah. It's good that she doesn't hide her son, selalu jugak dia minum petang lepas kerja ngan hubs & son dekat-dekat ofis tu. Orang kata, kesian you ada anak cacat. Tapi dia kata, syukur I ada my little boy who will always be my little angel, who will never hurt me in this world, and who will save me in the hereafter.


*sigh*


Jie's current mood : sayu tak tentu pasal

Friday, April 18, 2008

POSITIONS

Aahh... errghhh... oohhh... hfff.... pfffhhh... aarrghh... heavy breathing

Kejap mengiring... kejap terlentang... meniarap pun ada...

On all fours... tunduk kepala... angkat kaki kanan, stretch it out, yes!

Macam-macam position boleh... ikut kreativiti...

Last-last aku tergolek kepenatan...

Hahaha.... tu bila aku buat senaman pilates kat gym la... korang pikir apa? :-)

Sebenarnya aku dah join gym ni dari tahun lepas lagi, sebab aku nak jadi dari gambo kiri ni jadi ke gambo kanan. Tapi so far... far from reality... hahaha :-)

Gym. Memula tu OK aje... rajin ke gym at least 3 kali seminggu... pilates, machines etc... weekend pulak dance exercise... seronok tau!

Pastu, bulan posa... isk... letih + takde masa + entah apa-apa lagi alasan la, tapi sebenarnya malaaaasss... so aku telah isytihar Cuti Dari Gym Sempena Bulan Puasa untuk diri aku sendiri.

Bulan berikutnya, sambung pulak Cuti Dari Gym Sempena Bulan Raya... bukan setakat bulan Syawal je, melarat pulak sampai Zulkaedah, sampai Zulhijjah, sampai Muharram... sampai sekarang haraaaammmm tak pegi lagi hahaha :-P

OK, sekarang aku dalam dilemma. Tolong kasik idea, boleh?

Gini. Gym A yang aku join tu, di Taman Tun. Rumah aku di Kelana Jaya. Kalau tak jem, aku pecut keta, dalam 4 minit leh sampai. Masaelahnya aku akan ke gym selepas waktu ofis, so dalam kul 6.30 petang onwards, which is peak time kat highway tu. So dari 4 minit jadik at least 20 minit, and an additional 10 minutes untuk tawaf carik parking, sebab gym tu terletak di kawasan yang heavy traffic juga, farking problem parking muuaahaha... (busuknya bahasa aku hari ni!). Kalau dah sampai lambat ke gym, kenalah maghrib kat sana sebab takut tak sempat nak solat kat rumah. Leceh la pulak, dengan berpeluh-peluh tu nak sarung telekung...isy.... Lepas tu balik nanti pun ikut nasib-nasib, kekadang jem, kekadang OK.

So ari tu aku cuba survey kawasan sekitar rumah aku... ada 2 gym, Gym B dah a few years, Gym C baru bukak last year. Aku belum lagi pegi visit, tapi ada kawan yang biasa ke Gym B kata ok aje, tak banyak machines, tapi ada aerobic class & personal weight training. Gym C pulak, aku tengok dari website, macam best. Ada 2 tingkat, satu untuk machines dan satu untuk aerobic, yoga & dance class. Kedua-dua Gym B & Gym C ni dekat sangat, no excuse kalau tak pegi, dan parking untuk Gym C pulak free dan banyak space.

So... aku tak sure, should I :-

(1) stay with Gym A yang aku suka tapi tak convenient menyebabkan aku malas nak pegi, atau

(2) try Gym B yang convenient tapi dah lama, tak banyak machines tapi monthly fees sama dengan Gym A, atau

(3) go for Gym C yang baru & better facilities tapi mahal monthly fees nya?

I must, I must go to the gym again, a.s.a.p!

Tolong laaa.... aku tak mau jadik cam gambo bawah ni!!!!


Cegah Sebelum Parah
Hahaha... :-D
Suggestions, please?

Sunday, April 13, 2008

NOVELS

Spent my lunch hour last Friday at the KL International Book Fair. Takdelah berhajat sangat nak beli buku, memikirkan aku naik tren dari ofis ke PWTC tu. Oh, part naik tren tu OK jer, tapi part kena menapak dari stesyen ke ofis aku dengan menghangkut buku berat... itulah masaelahnya hehe :-)


I'm glad I went on a Friday, tak berapa ramai orang, so oklah boleh berjalan dengan mudah. Tapi bila tak ramai ni, aku pun lama lah belek2 buku, sampai habis waktu lunch pun, baru sempat jenguk a few booths aje. Was contemplating to go again this weekend, but decided not to. Someone was telling me, that last weekend at the book fair was like an ancient mass mating ritual... everyone were virtually rubbing up against each other due to the constricted space haha! Hell, no way am I going to go through that. With my height (or rather, lack of), I'd probably be gasping for oxygen within minutes. Tu belum kira all kinds of odours, especially kalau pegi tengahari... huuhuuuhuuu!


Just as I was looking for the exit, aku ternampak booth Alaf21. Aku pun terus tuju display rack, angkat 3 ketul novel. Masa nak bayar, aku tanya kat cashier tu, "dik, bila nak keluar sambungan Cinta Sang Ratu ye?" Budak tu senyum, "hujung tahun kot... ni mesti peminat Ramlee ni kan?"



Errrkkk.... peminat Ramlee? Ha'ah la, novel 3 ketul yang aku amik tu ialah :-






Yang ni aku dah ada :-


Yang ni aku belum beli lagi :-



Hmm... betul la budak tu kata kot. Aku dah qualify kot, jadik peminat Ramlee Awang Murshid? Err... ada lagi ke novel dia yang aku lupa?

The Author... tunjuk apa tu bang?

Well, like I've said before here, lately ni aku dah mula baca novel melayu. Dulu-dulu baca karya sastera macam A. Samad Said, Usman Awang, Khadijah Hashim, but their books were few and far between. Tapi sekarang, novel melayu agak bersepah jugak. Baguslah ada banyak choice, tapi aku personally susah nak cari novel (or writer) yang memuaskan hati aku.

Ikhlas aku katakan, aku tak minat baca novel 'fluff', mungkin ini lebih sesuai untuk remaja la, memandangkan 'saya bukan lagi ayam musim bunga' (I'm no spring chicken) hehe... Fluff tu macam novel cintan-cintun yang takde 'body' cerita sebenarnya. Ahhh... 'body'. Agaknya sebab tulah aku lebih banyak baca novel penulis lelaki kot. Body. Peewiiiittt!

What I meant was, the novels that I like are ones that are entertaining, and educational at the same time. Sebab tulah ada body, bukan setakat dibuai-buai dengan emotional story je, tapi banyak info lain yang dikaitkan, atau mesej untuk kesedaran awam etc. I hope there's more of this kind of writers in the future. Frankly, so far yang aku pernah jumpa karya gini, cuma dari writers lelaki je.

Just to share la, ada juga novel yang aku beli, walaupun tak mahal, tapi menyesal betul sebab membazir duit aku je. Ada yang sinopsis macam OK, tapi novel hampeh - indah khabar dari rupa? Ada yang banyak typing error - hellooooo.... proofreader tidoq ka? Dan yang paling boring, ada yang tulis novel melayu tapi nak selitkan bahasa inggeris (kenapa ye, nampak gempaq ke?), which is fine as long as you use the correct english la. Sikit-sikit silap tu oklah, tapi banyak yang spelling error dan grammar pontang-panting. Isyy... readers rasa geram tau baca novel gini - helloooo.... editor tidoq kaa???

I wonder if the publishers employ part-time proofreaders or editors... hmm... boleh aku apply.... huuhuuuhuuuu!



MAIWAIBEE

I guess I owe him an apology, or at least to correct my previous post here. But then, being as disinterested in politics as I am, not surprising if I never heard of him before la kan. Lagipun since dia bukan calon be-end, he wasn't given publicity by the media. Poster dia pun tak sebanyak poster kak pah noli, but there was one giant poster put up near my house. I don't know how his campaign went, only that one day my dad got back from masjid with his campaign flyer (flyer saiz A4 je, as opposed to kak pah noli's booklet of her lifestory), and my dad was suitably impressed with this young chap he met at the masjid.

Anyway, here he is, YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, ADUN Seri Setia, and Setiausaha Politik to Menteri Besar Selangor. I hope it's not too late to say 'Welcome to Kelana Jaya, YB'.

Why the sudden attention, Jie?

Camana nak cerita eh?

I am actually a registered be-end member (hah!). Have been so for a very long time, in fact since they first set up the cawangan here. Abah den kan kojo gomen, musti la join be-end. Tapi tulahnya, masa nak set up cawangan, orang gomen tuo-tuo ni lah bersusah-payah buek kojo, kempen carik ahli bagai. Lopeh tu, masuk taun dopannya, urang tuo-tuo tu somuo kono tondang jang oiii... ajk baru semuo urang mudo, kojo bisnes bagai. Habih manis, sopah dibuang. Tapi miko soba-an laie. Masih datang AGM laie. Tapi tulahnyo, bilo bontang penyato akaun, ado ruponyo dapek duit peruntukan, entah bilo diguno, baki kosooong manjang. Bontang senarai aktiviti pun, umang aiii... ado ruponyo aktiviti, lawatan la, jamuan la, majlis la, tapi takdo satu pun yang kami dijomput atau diboie tau. Camno ahli 'suci hati' cam esei ni nak lokat percayo ngan miko? Abah den, semuo kami la, percayo ngan perjuangan asal-eh be end tu, tapi rasonyo kito semuo tau camno keadaan sekarang ni kan. 'Nuff said.

So OK, rakyat dah beri mandat. Harap waibee-waibee baru ni semua dapat jalankan amanah masing-masing dengan baik. Nik Nazmi (nama glamernya 'Budu'... errkkk...?? haha!) has been a blogger for a long time, tapi aku tak pernah terjumpa blog dia sebelum ni la. But you can check him out here. I think almost all the new waibees have their own blog or website, and I hope these sites will be consistently read and updated, as I'm sure certain segments of the rakyat find it more comfortable to air their opinions, suggestions and complaints etc cyberically (is there such a word? haha!)

I'm impressed at what someone as young as 26 years old, has achieved, and has contributed to society. Aku masa umur 26 tu... siang sibuk keje, malam sibuk karaoke ke makan-makan ke, hujung minggu gi picnic ke roadtrip ke... hampeh! Padan le aku takleh jadik wakil rakyat *LOL*

Saturday, April 12, 2008

PICK-UP LINES, NOT!

Actually, I had a whole other something to write about, but when I read Fauziah's post about pick-up lines, I couldn't resist sharing this story hehe :-) Although... my post will be a little different than Fauziah's, and something of a let-down *sigh*

Anyway, one Friday sometime back, me & Nore decided to meet at The Mall for lunch, then check out the Matta Fair at PWTC. As we were walking around, I did notice a group of foreign-looking guys (young & ada yang hunky-dory, huuhuuu!) watching us, but then I could've been mistaken (perasan!), so buat derk sajork ler. At one point, Nore lagged behind, and when I turned around, one of the guys I saw earlier was talking to Nore.

OK-lah, friendships can crop up in the wierdest situations kan, so being a sporting friend (chewah!), aku just let them chat a while. Lagipun, mat tu hensem, ala-ala shah rukh, body pun cun uhuk uhuk... Tapi isy, lama la pulak. Aiks? Tekan-tekan handphone, minah ni kasik her number to strangers ke? That's uncharacteristic of her. Last-last, I signalled to Nore that we should move along.

Later baru aku get the whole story. Apparently, this guy who approached her, used this pick-up line - "I like your height". Oh ya, wierd as it is, Nore was the tallest girl in our class, while I was the second shortest. So walking around together, mesti nampak comical, bleargh! By the way, I'm never ever gonna get that very same pick-up line la kan... hahaha :-)

OK, sambung. The guy introduced himself as Nizam, a student from Pakistan, now studying in a kolej swasta, working part-time in a cafe. He asked if Nore was married (she's still single, any takers? hahaha... matilah aku kena seligi if she ever reads this post!), about her work and whether she lived by herself. Then he asked for her number. Nore refused, saying that he's too young to befriend her. Mat tu cuba pujuk. So Nore asked for his number instead, buat-buat macam nak save number tu in her phonebook, but instead Nore terus dialled. And you know what, bukan handphone yang kat tangan Nizam (if that is really his name la!) tu yang bunyi, but handphone one of his friends yang berbunyi. (The group actually followed us to the next hall, memang suspicious habis la) Nizam tu dah gelabah. Nore smiled sweetly, and asked what the eff is going on? He said that he had exchanged phones with his friend. What the eff for?

Later, Nore got an sms from the number given by Nizam tu. The sender introduced himself as Nizam's friend, Nizam was going back to Pakistan in a few months time but this other guy is staying on, let's us be friends etc etc. Nore politely replied with a "bugger off!", and thankfully that was the last of that. They chose the wrong person to mess with, haha!

Then, there's this friend, who experienced something similar. She travels to work by train, and one day perasan that there's this handsome foreign guy trying to main mata. She ignored him, but when she got off at her station, the guy followed suit. Mak aiii.... jadik stalker la plak. He approached her and said - "I like your eyes, you have beautiful eyes". My friend being a somewhat makcik laser, responded "thanks, but I'm wearing coloured contact lenses" hehehe... :-)

They guy was persistent, but in a very charming way. He's a foreign student, can we be friends, maybe I can learn more about your country from you, let's have coffee after this etc etc. So she said what the heck, they exchanged phone numbers. And... nightmare. He keeps making missed calls to her phone, expecting her to call him back, but she never did. He sent smses, asking her to call, but she didn't. Then he started to send sad smses, why is she acting this way, he thought they were friends etc etc. This went on for a few weeks. Finally she got bengkek, one night she smsed him "please stop this because my husband doesn't like me getting sms from guys, otherwise my husband will come looking for you". Mamat tu pun bodoss, mana nak cari, kenal pun idak, setakat terjumpa sekali je dalam train, line pun pakai prepaid je kan. But he stopped sms-ing after that la.

OK, moral of the story? Ada moral ke? Huuuhuuuu!

See a pattern here?

I think these guys are just con-men, maybe even illegal, but definitely smart jugak la. Whether they're really students, siapa nak tau? But they are glib and smartly dressed. They target women of a certain age (what age - I leave that to your own imagination hehe), who look single, friendly, independant, with good job & income. Mula-mula kenal-kenal. Lepas tu minta belanja makan. Lepas tu minta belikan barang. Lepas tu minta pinjam duit.... In short, they're looking for a sugar mummy. Hahaha! Matilah aku kena seligi dengan Nore AND Fauziah :-D Ya ampun!

Oh well, itu dua cerita pengalaman kawan-kawan aku, maybe these are just the exception je. Maybe others are genuine cases of friendship, or attraction, or even love at first sight.

Yeaaahhh..... right.

Jie, with the jaded heart, kan? Oh well, that's just me, korang toksah ikut sangka buruk aku ni, okkay.

* btw, I like to spell 'weird' as 'wierd', ok aperrr... :-D

Thursday, April 03, 2008

BATIK DAY

"Zah, esok hari apa, Rabu ke Khamis?"

"Esok err... hari Batik"

Hmm... kalendar dah berubah ke?

Aku ni selalu la kantoi, lupa nak pakai batik pada hari Khamis. I'm not sure if any disciplinary action would be taken against those yang tak pakai batik on thursdays, since gomen dah keluarkan circular untuk mewajibkan pemakaian batik tu. Tapi, remeh la kan? Daripada kejar orang yang tak pakai batik, lebih baik kejar orang yang makan rasuah ke, selewengkan bayaran ke, palsukan tuntutan elaun ke, kan? *LOL*

Yang kelakarnya, prestasi 'berada di ofis' yang sungguh cliche untuk orang gomen tu, somewhat lebih baik dari hari lain. Yelah, bila semua dah pakai batik tu, rasa malu la plak nak berbondong-bondong lepak kat kedai mamak, pasti menarik perhatian orang awam hehehe :-)

Anyway, last Thursday aku sebenarnya lupa lagi. Sib baik la aku carpool, so bila kawan aku tu masuk dalam kereta, dia terus aje tegur "awat tak pakai batik?" Adeeehhh.... terpaksa la aku balik ke rumah, tukar baju. So, lewat 2 minit sampai ke ofis, punch card merah! But I'm glad I did change my clothes, sebab tetiba lak Menteri baru decided to drop in on us! Memang dah tau dia nak datang ke agency aku for briefing by the DG, tapi tak tahu le pulak dia nak singgah kat department aku! Turns out, he knows my boss, because they had at one time worked in the same office, sebab tu dia nak singgah. Kelam-kabut la kitorang, of course when the Minister drops by, the whole shebang had to follow him, including the DG, the chairman, senior officials, political secretaries etc etc.

OK, back to the batik story. Lately ni memang banyak sangat batik creations from all kinds of fabrics and designs from Kelantan & Terengganu. Tapi aku heran, orang state lain, tak reti ke nak buat batik? Of course you need creativity, but the art and technique can be learned, can't it? Tak kisahlah batik dari state mana pun, but the more the merrier la kan. And perhaps it can help control the prices. Bukan semua orang gomen can afford to have many baju batik, sehelai batik silk or crepe yang cantik sekarang ni pun paling murah antara RM250 - RM350. Dah hampir separuh gaji bebudak kerani sambilan aku.

Personally, aku tak banyak baju batik yang mahal. Sebabnya, aku ni manusia ganas where baju kurung is concerned. Kalau pakai baju kurung silk, kejap-kejap aje dah tetas atau rerak jahitan bahagian tepinya hehe... unladylike kot cara aku, kejap duduk kejap bangun. Cheh! :-)