Excited, already?

pictures from:http://www.pinkgypsy.com and http://www.shira.net

Ni lah dia, Melayu.

Kalau mengata bangsa, marah tapi sendiri tak sedar
Makan gaji bertahun-tahun, bawak kereta company besar
Ingat la, kerja tu satu amanah. Satu ibadat.
Ingat la, itu periuk nasi kita. Hasil kudrat.
Duit tu la, ngko buat mentedarah

Duit tu la, ngko buat bayar bil melambak

Siapa bayar bil hospital bila ngko muntah terbelahak

'Aiman' means the lucky ones while 'Naim' means comfort, ease, tranquility.

Tabulas date has gone cuckoo or it could be my setting error. I'm too lazy to find out.

So yuupiduu!, Naim's birthday is on the 5th of July not 4th of July.

I have a sudden urge to write on Melakaspeak, a language as beautiful (if not offensive) as the people. ahaks! 

We refer a person as 'Dak [insert short name]' regardless of age. Dak, comes from Budak. Please take it as a compliment, it's not rude or disrespect to the elders. For example, i used to be asked this question;

"Ko ni anak sapee..anak Dak Yos, yyeh?"

Say it with a distinct intonation or pitching bak kata AF. I first thought they said i'm 'anak dayus' which kinda upsetting. My Mom's name is nowhere near Yos...so i don't know, really. 

Then, we have this so called standard, famous greeting "Ehh! Lahabau engko, lama tak dengau" followed by hugs and other curse-like words depending on how long you have not seen the person. I witnessed these warm greetings when i was small. Nowadays, it's hardly being used thanks to Ceramah Agama in TV1 and probably Non-Malaccan Ustaz. However, i could not verify the deminish of this greetings on other parts of Melaka.

In terms of direction, we don't just have 'left' and 'right' we also have 'ke daghat' and 'ke laut'. Selat la katakan...

Next, similies or words of wisdom, my favs hahaha. I hope these are unique to my Nek, a Malaccan, only. I don't linger with other Neks throughout Melaka, you know.

1. Upon hearing any of her grandaughters doing their small business in the loo from her kitchen she screamed;

"Hey! anak daghe menggogheng ikan?" or "Woi! gaghing (garing) ikan!"

(the sound, get it? next time u peebserve-listen. Yours or anyone else's la)

2. When she took a sip of tea made by anyone other than herself;

"Huh, tawar melesih macam p*nt*t hantu!"

(Don't ask me how she able to compare!)

3. When a cat jumped on her plate while she's having lunch, she bolted and said,

"Oh P*k1 mak ngko!"

4. When my cousins and I hang-out on the tangga-batu (aaa i love the tangga-batu) , she yelled;

"Gelenyar nak berlakiiii!" on good days, other days..

"P*nt*t dah berb*l* atas bawah, miang??"

Please don't think that our witty Nek doesn't love her grandchildren because she really does, that's just how she expressed her feeling. We had fun laughing at with her.  

So you see, it's normal to curse or use bad words on this side of Malaysia (or is it only in my family, NO!). I really hope fellow Malaysians understand.

*Blogging is nowhere near like writing diary, huh?*

We went for a birthday bash for a Sharifah's daughter. The Sharifah is a friend of my friend. The venue: garden, open air, lebaneese restaurant.  She said it's gonna be fun and frolic for the kids. Lots of sweets, chocolates and ice creams. We took our seat and happily savoured the chocolate cake.

Apa yang macam pelik je nih.

Opsie daisy.. No men. No husbands.

"Sharifah, I'm so sorry...i dunno this party is stricly for ladies"

"Masya Allah..takpe, you didn't know. In fact i don't even invite my husband. I only invite ibu dan anak. Please help yourself. By the way some of my cousins here usually cover their face"

"Err...okay" Firhad, off you go.

Game time! Najwa was excited. Made a circle and hold hands. Aik?! She turned, gave a warry look.

Game instruction was in Arabic! or Lebaneese or whatever i can't tell the difference.

End of game. She didn't win anything. No party pack to bring home.

I wish I could put up a picture or two. But you see, they usually cover their faces...so obviously no cameras allowed.

And yes, they're pretty! pointy nose, long black eyelashes. I was expecting belly dancing tho..but nope. No luck. heh!

PwC has a reputation of hitting around the bush, queries issued prior discussion with the Management and worst, lost their own samples.

Hopefully those were exceptional cases. But report as big as this  must be fully supported with evidences and documents.

I doubt PwC screwed up on this one.

As for Datuk Johari, he's a classic auditee!

If I may humbly request that the audit report should NOT be used as an excuse to remove an entity/person

Unless if, all the company needs is public excuse for elimination hard facts.

Read more here.

Pic taken from The Star.

Kakak:

Ibu! Ibu! tadi kakak pergi Faber apa Bu? (Faber Castell, sayang) oh Faber Kesel tu 'an,   jauh tau macam rumah Aliya tapi kakak tak sleep pun,   kakak naik bus warna orange tapi bukan bas Along,   bas tu 'an tingkap dia camni [draw a square] ah tingkap dia tak bley bukak macam bas Along,   ade aircond sejuuuk,   dalam bas tu 'an kakak dengan Daniel Gemuk ngan Daniel Botak nyanyi camni Bu,  Angguk-angguk Geleng-geleng [shake booty and head],   Teacher Nelly ngan Teacher Jun ngan Bibik ikut sekali,   Bibik tu suruh semua orang senyap saje,   Kakak nampak pensil besar tu,   kita boley touch saje tau Bu,   kita tak boley tulis tau sebab its BIG,   Naim senyapla! kakak nak cakap ngan Ibu!   Pastu 'an,   Faber apa Bu? (Faber Castell, sayang) ah.. tempat tu beeesar tau Bu!   orang tu kata kakak boley datang lagi besok,   Kakak dapat ni tau Bu [show off her new sets of pencils] tapi 'an Naim tu dah patahkan crayon kakak,   tadi 'an kakak main yang macam Clay yang nyanyi Lal-la-Lal-laaa tu 'an,   kakak bley tarik dia panjaaang, nanti Ibu belikan kakak brush pastu kakak colour taruh air tapi kene pekat tau Bu,   nanti lukis parrot canteeekk,    tapi tadi kakak lapar la kakak tahan saje,   ala kakak lupa la nak cakap ngan abah kakak pergi Faber apa Bu? (Faber Castell!), ah..ibu tepon abah yeh,   oh Ibu! Ibu! look no Homework!

Ibu:

Ha Ha Ha *hugs Kakak* 

The world´s largest pencil (19.75 m high) in the "Pencil Tower", Subang Jaya Malaysia. Boasting a 15 cm thick graphite lead, it was entered in the Guinness Book of Records.

Read more here.

Dean & Ashley won!  I like the part when Ashley said "We've been married for years and he still surprised me. I'm learning new things about him everyday!"

sweet huh?

From a forwarded email, never failed to make me laugh each time. The email is titled "Lady Drivers of the Year Awards". So tell me, which one are you? C'mon don't be shy!

  6th Place

  5th Place

  4th Place

  Bronze Medallist

  Silver Medallist

  World Champion. Muahahah!

A girlfriend was closed to tears yesterday when she told me she discovered a lump in her breast. She thought it was the end of her world. She was awfully upset and begins to think of boutiques that sell single cupped bras. This is what I told her (not in exact words la);

I was 21 years old, in my final semester when I found mine in my right breast. Back then, Cancer Awareness campaign was at its peak which prepared me, mentally of the outcome. Nevertheless, the discovery freaked my Mom out.

I was without insurance and was earning zero income. My Dad has long retired. When shits like this happened we thank the Government for subsidies and Hospital Kerajaan. But the process..aiyoo referral from klinik kerajaan first then only we were allowed into Hospital Kerajaan. Please, dont get me started with the lack of process flow.  I did the mammogram (sakit wooo!), scanning..everything. Not to mention, other Specialists i went for 'second opinion'. Theoritical speaking, by the time I had my operation date fixed, half of KL have either seen or oggled my breasts.  Unfortunately the operation date is in 6 months time. If it really was cancer, I could have kojol by then. Oh they found more lumps in the other breast!  

No! the picture above is not me.

Unable to tolerate the delay, my parents sent me to APSH. Angah, my brother, offered to settle the medical bill. I could never thank this man enough.

By this time i had to painfully reject offers from Universities. Diploma is good enough, for now. On the other hand, my try-try job application at a local bank was accepted. Allah is Great. He takes some, He gives some.  I was accepted despite the assessment done during the medical examination. *More ogglers.

After working for less than a month, I stayed home for 2 weeks on medical leave after the Operation. It was a success, yupp! A thumb sized lump was removed from the right and two (or was it three?) more from the other.  Dah la kecik, kene buang lak isi.  The Surgeon left a railway  track marks on me. I knew then that my hantaran would be discounted. (hey, i did verbally disclose to my future MIL, okay?)

Result from the Lab showed that the lumps were not cancerous. Just another case of benign fibroidenoma (solid tumor). Featured lump was not mine either.

The Bank, upon recommendation from my CIA (another angelic-man) reimbursed the medical bill. My Dad thought it was an act of sincere kindness since I was only a probationer. "Be loyal to the Bank and your Boss", he once said. That was my motivation.

Everyone was super happy.

The thing about fibroidenoma is that it CAN recur. After a couple of years, i found yet another lump. This time it was sandy and immobile.  On my Mom's lead, I set up an appointment with Dr. Susila Nair at Gleneagles Intan. Mom said she seen this lady on t.v.

Dr. Susila's diagnose however, stumped me. She said although the actual catalyst to this widely common phenomenon is unknown, it is established that hormone dictates changes in our body. Lumps come and go and in most cases it will dissapear once the breast produces milk (naturally). While it is true that lump is a sign of cancer, there are other signs like discharge, visible change, imbalanced (senget tak?), swollen or streaked of pain which I have never experienced!  Only if the lump hinders our daily activities (in whatever way) then it would be justifiable to remove. She told me of an isolated case where she advised removal when she found at least 15 lumps in a 17 years old girl.

She also said, most doctors from private hospitals would advise prompt removal but truth is, how else would they earn their living? *Great, I have a railway and short of degree.

Moral of the story is..err beli la insurance! ahahha Serious. All I'm saying is there are lots of opportunist out there taking advantage out of people's fear, insecurity and lack of knowledge.  Although one should never ignore the risk, one should also know when to tolerate.

Firhad says:

Which reminds me of a TV commercial done by the Singaporean Health Board eons ago. It showed a plain-looking woman going to work one morning.  The viewers would be taken through her routine from her lift of her condo into the MRT Terminal onto the train and right to the lobby of her building. Ever so often, the camera would focus on some guy on each location, looking at her direction.  No voices, no conversation, just simple background music throughout.

The commercial ends with a simple tagline, "If only women would look at their breasts as often as men do".

Read more here.

How to self-examine here.

Men get breast cancer too.
 

You know what.. been trying to write an entry on few potential topics which I have, actually...and later decided to scrap them off.

Matters of heart.

Do I need to blog just to get the message across?

Do I need comments (from others) to motivate / heal / whatevah?

Probably I do, Probably I don't. 

I miss my Mom. I miss Bang De.

Job Interview

No, I'm not looking for another job (yet). I interviewed potential candidates for the Department. I noticed that nowadays first impression, experience and most importantly selling oneself are not contributing factors.  A+ for self confidence but I suspect its because of "I'm-somebody's ..." and "..... recommended-me-for-this-job" attitude.

Sad.

Vendor Selection

Totally unrelated to my area. Just because I raised a concern, they think I'm the project champion. Blah! Such a conflict on my part. If it's not crystal clear enough...I'm not the USER la, bahalul!

I can give the system specifications, but that would be from my view! Some people just failed to see.

Document Submission

Again, not related to my area. This one's okay since I get to learn the process. Just that, I don't take orders other than from my Boss, vokeh? Am I being difficult?

Peter Pan

He He He Kak Lisa punya la, sape lagi. Pinjam ehhhh. Surprisingly, they're good! Tak pretentious, tak beriya-riya menyanyi, tak stressfull.

My helper pun tahu. Jauh sikit dari kampung dia. heh!

C.S.I season finale

Good aye? So Tarantino, so Kill Bill.  I'd prefer Nick dies by blowing his brain off that would be more dramatic.

26JUL05

Happy Belated Birthday, Mir!. Didn't see you at home so..no gift for you. Bawak-bawakla balik rumah.

Executive Summary

I use this principle in writing reports especially in Executive Summary: Mini skirt.

'Long enough to cover the essential parts and short enough to create interest.'

I don't see any value added to "...Insya Allah, kami akan mencapai tahap perkhidmatan terbaik". What the...?? And I'm talking about Ringkasan Eksekutif (Executive Summary) for Government project. Emotional writing huh?

I don't see the point of today's entry.