Tiga Hari Dua Malam (Tapi Kali Ini Berteman!)

By the time you read this entry, I will already be on my way to Penang (yet again) for another 3 hari 2 malam. Before drroza gets choked on her supper or breakfast (depending on when you're reading this), let me tell you that I have my second son to accompany me on this trip.

It's all part of a new tradition I'm starting i.e. to take my children on a bonding-trip before they leave home for university. My second son will be leaving home soon to join Matriculation early in July, so I thought it would be in the best of interest of both him and me to go on a trip together. Just to spend some father-son quality time.

I also did the same with my first son. In his case, I took him to Langkawi (yes, that island which Hiyoshi visited recently). Together with the both of us was my son's good friend. However, there will be no other persons besides my second son and I this time around as he is not too sociable. Also, he's rather close to me compared to the first. So, on this trip to Penang, it'll be just the two of us.

What will I do with him once we're there? Oh, there'll be the usual sessions of nasihat - to be independent, self-reliant, not to go looking for girlfriends yet, taking care of his actions and words.

Next in line will be my daughter - my Kak Baby. I have reminded Bea that she will have to go on that bonding trip with her. Bea has expressed interest in Johore. Perhaps I will also be there to keep a watchful eye on my beloved wife and only daughter hahahaha....

On another note, I'm feeling rather sad as on Sunday, I had sent my daughter and son back to boarding school. Soon, it will be time to send the first back to his place. Then, the only people left in the house will be myself, Bea and the youngest. It's going to be really quiet....

p.s. By the way Hiyoshi, you might want to listen to the music that I've put up at my Xanga bungalow.

It's the 8th of June....

Today is my secretary’s birthday. Unlike most bosses out there, I have a male secretary. Now, don’t you start questioning my orientation. My secretary has been with me for a good 18 years. Told you that I’m an old faithful kind of guy. So with someone who has been with me for this long a time, and been faithful all along, it’s just fair that I keep him with me, right?

He is a very polite, quite good looking young man. He has also been more than a secretary to me. Being a male, it’s easy for him to be my good friend. In fact, he has been the one who I can take with me to movies; otherwise you know that I prefer to watch movies alone. That’s how close I am to him. I even buy him clothes on Hari Raya and his birthday.

As with most secretaries, mine also has his faults. Happy go lucky he may be, but this attribute of his can be nerve wrecking and sometimes Bea cannot stand him leaving things to the last minute. So, at times when I want to see things done and I want him to use his full potential, he can be quite a letdown. However, I can’t be angry with him for too long. He is really a charming lad.

A few weeks back, I had entrusted my secretary to pick up my youngest son from tuition class since I was busy attending to other matters. But guess what happened? My secretary grazed my vehicle against another car. Yes. And he took it for a long scratch. In the end, I had to fork out one thousand ringgit to pay for the other person’s damaged car. And I’ve not even sent my own car for repairs yet. I can’t hope for my secretary to pay the total sum, what with his meagre pay. I suppose this is what you could call the burden of being boss.

Even so, I must say that I’m really proud of him now as he will be furthering his studies in law. I always knew that he had it in him, so you can imagine my joy when he told me that he had gained admission into the law programme of one of our local universities. Even though I will be losing a very much trusted secretary, it’s okay. To him, I wish nothing but all the best. Here’s to a brighter future to you, dear secretary!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you. I want you to always remember that:

You are very special
and you deserve the best.
I wish you a wonderful life
filled with love and happiness.
I hope others bring you joy,
just as you've brought joy to me,
then you can weather any storm
and be all you want to be.

Did I or did I not….meet Hiyoshi?

The above title is actually inspired by my non-inspiration over not having something to write about my Langkawi trip. Hiyoshi has intelligently left us all with a cliffhanger in his part 1. And I’m sure that everyone must have been clicking at his site (me included) from time to time, just to see whether he has posted his part 2. I must admit that he’s a better story-teller than me. So rather than be compared to him, let me choose another area of discussion.

I have been to Langkawi a number of times and there are so many places to visit there. But I always make it a point never to visit all those places of interest in one go (Idaman Suri and the other shopping areas being the exception, of course. And you know the reason for that, don’t you?) I know I promised to post an entry on my “makan-makan” in Langkawi. Unfortunately, food in Langkawi is nothing to shout about. Except for the chendol utara. I particularly like chendol from Utara because they have this authentic pandan flavour. I wish they would be more creative like the Kelantanese that not only add pulut and kacang to their chendol, but also tapai. Have you tried that? You must, if you have not. It’s just heavenly; simply out of this world.

My trip to Langkawi this time around has been more of a relaxed kind of vacation. It’s more of me having the luxury of lazing around; even going to the gym and the sauna at the resort. That makes me feel good, although I don’t really think I’ve been successful in shedding the inches off my waist. Perhaps even adding them, due to the sinful chocolates (Yes, blame it on the chocolates!).

The other reason is because I wasn’t feeling too well, even before going for the trip. I accidentally swallowed a small fishbone whilst having an asam laksa meal at Amcorp Mall prior to Langkawi. And it so happens that this was one little fishbone that that got stuck and refused to dissolve away. So, I brought along my uncomfortable tonsil to my holiday destination. Unluckily for me, it turned out worse (I developed a slight fever) and that forced me to the clinic on my final night in Langakwi. True enough, the doctor prescribed antibiotics – Cephalexin. I still have another six tablets to finish. So now you know, why this late entry. Besides that, my youngest also developed a slight fever, and I had to attend a wedding in KL upon arrival. Aduh sibuknya bila dah tua-tua ni, ye? Walaupun hati senantiasa rasa muda :))

So, back to the title; did I or did I not meet Hiyoshi? I don’t want to spoil Hiyoshi’s cliffhanger. Let him finish with his life lessons. I’m just posting this entry because I felt that I owe it to everybody here since I already told them that I’d be going on this Island trip.

Don’t you get this feeling that when you’re just back from holiday, you need to go for another one? Another solo tiga hari dua malam, perhaps? Now drroza, don’t you go nagging me hehehehe….

Yes, I'll Be Driving (title inspired by drroza's question)

I will be driving up north early tomorrow morning. You may be asking how early is early. To me, early is really, literally early (very much to the disgust of my children, including bea). I don't care. I'm an early bird and I like to wake up before the sun rises. I like to start the journey before Subuh, therefore morning prayers will be at one of the RnR along the way.

There are a number of reasons why I like travelling in the morning. The first is, I don't have to sweat for almost half the journey. Secondly, the kids can also have a restful sleep - which they normally do - on the vehicle. Besides that, you also get the luxury of having breakfast in a strange new land. Now, this can either work to the advantage or against me. It all depends on luck actually. Thankfuly, I'm able to say that I've had more hits than misses. The next reason why I like to travel early is because I can drive in a relaxed manner. I don't have to rush and I won't feel guilty to stop at the roadside stalls to buy the wares offered. One such place is Bidor where there are fresh guavas. It's such a joy to be munching away on the juicy fruit with their "cholek".

The other thing is that I get to arrive early at my destination. And that is always a good thing. Just like drroza and ikelah who managed to get an early ride to Redang recently ;) It's good to reach destinations like Langkawi early, for there are still things to be settled like getting a car for hire.

I still haven't decided whether to take the ferry or speedboat at Kuala Perlis or Kuala Kedah. But most probably it'll be Kuala Perlis. The number of times I've been to Langkawi, it has always been Kuala Perlis. And remember, I'm an old faithful (now I'm starting to feel guilty about abandoning my Xanga blog. Just to make myself feel better, I'll try to post up an entry about the trip on my previous blog)...InsyaAllah.

Things that I like to do whilst driving: I like to sing to my favourite tunes over Light and Easy (itulah Ayumi, I want you to include me in your karaoke list. I sure can put you to shame with my karaoke skills!) Other than that, I also like to reminisce about the past. Somehow or rather, bea and I will always end up talking about the times we were all snuggling together in the living room of our basement apartment with our small children in Edinburgh. Can you imagine; in Edinburgh, in Autumn and Winter? So you can imagine about the many things I'll be talking with Bea during the long journey. Looking into the rear view mirror, I can't help but think about how the kids have grown up right before my eyes.

So, on long journeys like this, although I don't like driving for hours at end, these are the small redeeming qualities that make up for the torture of being behind the wheel.

Okay, I've got to start packing now. Care to remind me of the things that I shouldn't forget to bring along on this trip? (I have ways of enticing people to come and leave comments here) But make sure that the suggestions come quick for I have less than 24 hours before I'm off to Langkawi. So Hiyoshi, shopping areas would be the best place to meet me. Feel free to sms me. You still have my number don't you? I really hope to see you there. Tell me what you want for lunch or dinner and I'll belanja you makan. A promise is a promise :)))

p.s. I have to share this with you. We had breakfast outside this morning. On our way back, my two children from boarding school were teasing the youngest one about their place of birth. Below is a recollection of the dialogue (after translation):

Youngest: Eventhough you two were born overseas, I speak better English than you two!
The Girl: Eleh, tapi kitorang boleh cakap Arab. Bahasa Quran, bahasa di syurga.
Youngest: Ala...Tau jugak Bahasa Arab! Klau pandai, apa anta? Haa....Apa ana?
The Girl: Hahaha...Pandainya dia cakap Arab! Takutnya!!
The Boy (his elder brother): Ala...Klau pandai sangat, apa babi?
Youngest: Anta la!

I know I should have scolded him for that, but we all couldn't help but laugh out loud at his witty remark.

This is my first posting. Everybody seems to be moving to blogspot, so I think I'd do the same. But I'm still keeping my old blog at xanga. Maybe I'll post up entries alternately. Maybe I'll post up Malay entries in one and English entries in another. Or maybe I won't be posting entries at all; just comments on my favourite sites. That has always been my favourite pastime.

The good thing about blogspot is that the pictures look stunning. But then again, that's probably because ikelah has been taking them. However, don't hope for a picture of myself in the future. I'm still keeping my identity to myself. Besides, ikelah and boogey have set the bar up high, so much so that I think I'd best just stick to writing entries. Even then, I'm still not that good a story-teller. That would be drroza. She has set the standard too high that I feel rather hesitant to post up entries of my own. Nanti rasa hambar pula. So drroza, if you've noticed I haven't put up any new posts lately, you're partly to blame! Many a times have I written something, only to read it back and find it to be 'tasteless'.

But the main reason I set up this account is because of the pop-up comment box. Whenever anybody wants to leave their comments, they can do so without having to leave the main page. And I find that really nice.

Still, I haven't decided whether to religiously post here as I have my xanga blog. I'm not the type of person who would simply leave an 'old faithful' friend just because I've found a new one. I have many fond memories with xanga as I got to know so many talented and intelligent people. Also, I got to see them grow up into budding adults. Afie, ayumi, crimsonskye, witchazel,
hiyoshi, inositol, iFos. And devoleb (yes, we have not forgotten about you, you lazy blogger!)

note: I'm not too sure whether inositol is a young blogger or not.

Do you realise that I used the word 'lazy' to describe devoleb? Well, that's only because I know her and am comfortable with her. For people who I'm not too familiar with, I wouldn't pull their leg like that because they have yet to accustomize themselves with me. That's why I believe that we should always be courteous to people who are new. We should only be funny with people whom we are comfortable with. Witty and funny jokes are welcomed, but caution should always be practised as to not offend the other party taking the joke.

Having said that, don't be hesitant to leave comments. I appreciate feedback on the things that I've written, be it in agreement or otherwise. Difference in opinions are the spices of life. But let's try to leave only nice comments, shall we?

Since this is a new blog, I'll keep it short :))))