Blogging halts again

Its a busy year end for me. Many relatives are here in KL for their year-end shopping spree. I volunteered to be their short term driver. I should be able to continue to blog once things are settled by next week. "Hasta luego amigas y amigos!" Stay tuned.......

Live with happy teens

Teenager wants to be treated as a friend. Parent and child talk is necessary of course, but lets not limit our conversation to that. We should become one of their friend, whom they could discuss about their personal matters, including 'love'. Everyone has temptation towards love. So is 11 years old boy and girl, even the younger ones. Children nowadays are free thinkers and not all parents are perfect. Let our young express their thoughts. They have every right for their own opinion. All we need to do is to identify the good and the bad. When we identify the bad one, make sure we have a strong point to justify why. Not just by saying "because I don't like it". If we sense a good ones, praise them. That should motivate them. Spending quality time with our child is a must. Once a while bring one of them out, somewhere that we both could talk and spend time together. Create a happy time, not a lecture time all the way, which is BORING...... Many parents do not know their child's friends by their names. That's not right. Do not let them use the word 'my friend'. Whenever there is a chance, get them to bring their friends over to introduce to us. Be a friend to their friends. Make the friends feel welcomed and comfortable in your house. So what if your mansion is not big enough. Regardless of religion, the strong foundation is important. That helps to keep them away from unwanted activities, even when their parents are not around. Do not introduce racism to their life. Dressing is not so much an issue, as long as its within the acceptable sight. Shaping the internal part that creates a value in a person. Ideas from "Raising Happy kids 13-19 by (I forgot the author)

Tips for Thoughts

Remember 'Law of Attraction'?
Like attracts likes
Happy attracts happiness

Don't think of something that you don't want to happen because the Law of Attraction doesn't recognise negative word. "I don't want to get into car accident" will be interpreted to your thought as "I want to get into car accident".

When someone asks "How are you feeling today?"tell him/her that you're feeling good. The person will be happy to hear that. When that someone is happy he/she would bring happiness to others.

When you are feeling bad, do not dwell into the bad feelings, instead, focus on something that makes you feel good. If it doesn't work, think of another and another and another. Create a list of them, like, when for the first time you received a flower from your love ones, when you fell in love for the first time, when you had the first sight of your baby, when you got promoted, when you brought happiness to your parents. Anything, that makes you feel good.

Your feeling is your own masterpiece. You create it. You hold it in your thoughts. If you want to be happy, set it in your thought, because Law of Attraction travels in certain frequency. Anything that falls within the the same frequency will bound to come to you.

Let's take a look at a local example. The attitude of 'segan' is very Malaysian. You and me are one of them. Conservative-thinking falls into the same frequency, so is judgemental, 'Kiasusm', stupidity and so fort. Put off the 'segan' feeling and replace it with 'Respect' and 'Tactfulness'. Be open minded. When you are meeting new person, a big boss, a high ranking minister, a Pastor, an Imam, a beggar, whoever they are, don't keep these in your thought...
"what if ...."
" but I don't want her/him to think that I......."
"I don't think......"
"May be he is not...."
Eliminate all the negative feeling. Meet with open mind. You are who you are. You will be ok. The next time you are feeling bad or unhappy, remember the Law of Attraction.

(Ideas from- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne)

Sambungan....'Hanif" (Part3)

Tiada kata-kata yang dapat ku huraikan setelah membaca laporan itu. Dalam perjalanan pulang, emak Hanif mengaku bahawa selama ini beliau sering melepaskan sakit hatinya terhadap suami, kepada anak sulung dari 3 beradik itu, Hanif. Beliau kini sedar dan berjanji tidak akan memukul Hanif lagi. Cukuplah apa yang ayah Hanif telah lakukan terhadap anak yang tidak berdosa itu.

Setelah mengucapkan terima kasih, ibu Hanif berpesan, "Akak, tolong jangan beritahu sesiapa tentang hal ini ya, Esah malu pada jiran tetangga.". Aku mengangguk saja.

Sesampai di rumah, ku capai sehelai kertas lalu melakarkan gambaran yang kubayangkan semasa membaca laporan itu tadi.

Maghrib hampir tamat. Aku langsung ke kamar, mandi dan sembahyang. Untuk keluarga Hanif, kuselitkan doa agar Allah menjauhi mereka dari malapetaka yang berterusan, dan semoga ayahnya kembali sedar dari penagihan dadah durjana itu.

Seminggu kemudian...... Suara Hanif tidak lagi kedengaran. Kebiasaannya hampir setiap petang, Hanif dan anakku Arman, akan bermain bola di depan rumah. Kereta ayahnya juga tidak lagi kelihatan di depan rumahnya.

"Hanif masuk asrama", jelas Arman. Aku lega. Mungkin itulah yang lebih baik untuknya.

Kedengaaran pintu rumah Hanif dibuka.
 "Oh, Esah, apa khabar?". Sapaku. Tanpa menjawab teguranku, Esah berkata,
 "Akak, saya dah tak sanggup lagi bersama Omar. Saya dah pergi syariah dan dah lapor pada bahagian narkotik". Sambil menahan sebak beliau berkata lagi,
"Dia dah ambil kedua2 anak perempuan saya. Dia tinggal bersekedudukan dengan perempuan lain. Saya tak sanggup anak-anak saya tinggal dengan perempuan itu".

Aku tergamam. "Kesiannya you Esah... Habis, apa rancangan you sekarang?" tanyaku kebingungan. "Entahlah kak" Esah terisak-isak tak terkata lagi.
"Sabarlah Esah, you carilah peguam, minta nasihat". Itu sajalah yang bisa ku sarankan.

Aku sendiri bukanlah arif dengan hal-hal sedemikian.
"Dah, jap lagi saya nak pergi jumpa peguam lah ni. Saya pergi dulu ya kak". Beliau berlalu.

Aku sedih melihat keadaannya yang tidak terurus lagi itu. Aku masih terbayang betapa mesranya keluarga itu dulu. Aku pernah terserempak dengan mereka di kompleks membeli belah tidak lama dulu. "Bahagianya keluarga ini", kataku pada suamiku. kini mereka berantakan. Semua kerana dadah.

Selepas makan malam, seperti biasa kami sekeluarge duduk di depan TV sambil mendengar berita perdana. Tiba-tiba telefon bimbitku berdering. Terpapar 'MakHanif' di skrin. Aku berdebar untuk menyambut panggilan itu. Apakah berita yang akan ku dengar? ikutilah cerita selanjutnya di sambungan yang akan datang

Meeting Man and Creature.

I've been there many times to conduct software training to the librarians. Only this time I arrived after midnight. The airport was quiet. We were glad to to see our names being paged, although my surname was wrongly spelled. The driver safely drove us through the darkness. At the hotel lobby, the man at the reception relieved seeing his last guests of the day finally arrived. It was a simple-and-clean inn. On the next morning, my partner, Gina, conducted our new product demo. How nice, I didn't have to present in this trip. I joined just to be there and be friendly to the clients, said hi! to the higher management , shook hands, talked and laughed over the tea break up to the lunch. Being able to maintain such character, turning clientship to friendship is required in my business and in a many more businesses. The Islamic oil rich country is peaceful, far from traffic jams and from crimes. Its a good place for a change. Process of urbanization are still going on. The lucky locals are taken care very well by their Sultan. The language is similar to Malaysian Malay. English is widely spoken too. Many Filipinos workers. All kind of world dishes were available. However, if you are a clubbing kinda person, this wouldn't the place to favor. No alcoholic drink served here. So, if you have to drink, you may bring 1 bottle of alcohol drink. That's the limit unless if you are willing to see extra bottles down the drain, as you reach the Airport's Custom alley. Coffee is available though. Despite my many-many trips there, the hospitality I received was still as in the previous. I was surrounded by good hosts. Even the wildlife came out to greet me. Bandar Seri Bengawan, Brunei, where I paid 1 night visit, a couple of days ago. At the university library, I met people who some, I forgot their names, and often forgot what matters was discussed a year ago, which they remembered well. Being the instructor of courses to the group of them, I do not have such capability to store all those matters for years. Anyway, I loved the sight of their happy expression seeing me.

While attending to some matters, I heard commotion from the other department of the library. Everyone were screaming. Some were standing on the table top. A baby phyton sneaked out from under the bookshelf. It stayed still. Perhaps, the process of shading was tiring. I went close to the fiery camouflage creature and snapped photographs of it. "The snake came out to welcome you," a lady said. They all laughed. I enjoyed seeing all those happy faces. A few minutes later, 2 security guards appeared with their equipment and took the snake away. What an excitement! My flight back to KL was 7:20pm. Not to miss the food and ambiance at the Royal Brunei Sky Lounge, my partner and I went to the airport early. Internet access and plenty of food are available. We had a good relaxing, eating and surfing. In the flight.. again... ate while watching personal TV. Shown in the picture, Gina and her inflight activity, while some people were fast asleep. I ate too much that I woke up with headache. That's the problem when I had to travel. Hmmm....May be I should demand an extra allowance for this fat-building designation.

Spontaneous BBQ

I overlooked the calendar and suddenly I got and extra holiday on Friday. The Sultan of Selangor's birthday. There goes all the pending works that I was supposed to complete on that day. Monday is going to be a rush hour again. Sigh... Afternoon, the men in the house, went for Friday prayers. Next thing I knew, they also went for grocery and came back with lamb cutlets and chicken wings, barbecue sauce, bell pepper, mushroom, broccoli and charcoal. I knew what was going to happen next. Correct ! Almost immediate, the preparation took place. "Who are we inviting?" I asked. "Whoever is around, eat with us, whoever not around, we will send to them", simply the answer. "Where is Danial and Mikhail(nephews)?", I also asked. "I sent them back, Irad(Bro-inlaw) will send them here on their way from hospital (visiting sickly relative)", my hubby explained. "Should we call Diana?(Sis-inlaw)", I asked. "Its too short notice. We will send to them". he said. " 4 plus... Danial Mikhail... irad's family.. Diana's family...right neighbor's family.. left neighbor's family.. front neighbor's family...", I counted and quickly checked the amount of meat. I remembered my mom said, "if the the aroma of your cooking is strong enough to reach your neighbor's senses, you should give them some". So, I practice as said. Its encouraged in Islam too. "That's ok, we just distribute, no matter how little, as long as everyone gets something", we both agreed. No time to marinate. The BBQ-ing just happened at our small compound. Longer time spent waiting, than eating. Time to invest on a bigger BBQ set. Food distribution went on. It was tasty, they said. Not enough chicken wings though, so I ate more lamb, against my dietary guidelines. "I just had a heavy seafood dinner with Ghouse(cousin) and family last night", I confessed. I continued eating without guilt. That was our way of 'family planning'. 'Kun ! Fayakun'. The only thing planned on that day was the Selangor States holiday on The Sultan's birthday, while the rest, just happened because it happened. Happy birthday, Your Highness !

Unplanned Visit to 'Pulau Ketam'

It was last Saturday, when my maid prior scheduled to take a day off. When the helper is not around, the lazy parents will get headache.

"Lets go somewhere. Get ready you'ol"

"Where to?"

"Err...emmm.. anywhere!"

"I wanna go PD (Port Dickson)"

"Yes, lets go to PD"

"No, lets not PD again"

"Then WHERE!?"

"Melaka! I want to se A-Famosa"

"No, too hot(weather), and you have seen it before"

"How about Cameron Highland? Its nice and cooling.

"Yeah...! Cameron"

"Thats too far. Tiring"

sigh....

"OK, we go somewhere we've never been to, like....eemmm......... I dunno..."

"So, Mama, where are we going?"

"Good question...emmm..where can we go....emmm.....ok, we go to......... Pulau Ketam"

"HAHAHAHA..... !!"

"ok, I give you'ol a choice, London, Paris, PD, Cameron or.... 'PULAU-KETAM'..?"

"!!!PULAU KETAM!!!..HAHAHAHAHA!"

That was our early morning discussion a.k.a argument. No joke, Pulau Ketam where we exactly headed with an open mind, on the next half hour.

Driving north-east passing Klang town, we felt so tiny being squeezed in between lorries, trucks and trailers carrying gigantic container. The kids, as usual would find anything to argue about, while in the car.

"This might be not a good idea", I told my hubby.

"Anyway, lets proceed", I determined. We continued our trip.

Not too far from South Port of Klang town is where the jetty is located. Its also reachable within 45 minutes by KTM Commuter train from Central KL, all the way to the jetty. What a beautiful sight of the South port, we saw.

The supposed-to-be 45minutes drive took us 2 hours, including twice U-turning, and 3 stops asking for direction and 15 minutes walk from the parking lot to the boat. Adri and Nadia ran out of arguments.

"We should have taken the train instead", I suggested, when I saw the nearby train station. The jetty is within a walking distance from the last station of the Commuter Train. Our tiresome vanished as soon we sighted the boat. Excited to board.

The boat ride costs RM7 (USD2)/pax. Air-conditioned and complete with life jacket, above the head compartment. You need to figure out how to put on the jacket yourself, as nobody bother to explain. I took some photos of the interior. It was almost fullhouse, and as noisy as the fish market. We sat separated from each other. I befriended the Chinese lady next to me.

She talked loud and continuous, over her mobile phone. Happily she was willing when I asked permission to snap her image, that was the only time she stopped talking. We didn't bother all the havoc though, as the exciting part was the boat ride.

The ride took about 45 minutes, including a 5 minutes stop at one part of the sea village, before we reached the island jetty.

Our first sight out to the jetty was a sea village. We passed by a couple, fishing crabs at the jetty. It was low tide and we could see lots of crabs crawling on the muddy water under the jetty.

As we walked towards the island, less and less sea to see, as the walkways were fully covered with concrete pavement, eliminating the sight of wet muddy land down under.

The residence were 99.9% Chinese. If you wouldn't eat Seafood, this might not be a right place to live. The main transportation were bicycles and feet. Nadia excited to notice the sign 'Bicycle for rent'. No, not now dear.

It was past our lunch time, so first, we decided to satisfy our hunger. Pulau Ketam means 'Crab Island'.

Mama Mia!! Guess what was the first dish came out of my order?

Bicycles were available for rent for RM5/day only.

After lunch, we cycled through in between the shop lots. It was just one stretch of shoplots and we covered the town within a minute. We then turned towards the housing area, the fishermen village.

I caused traffic jam along the narrow walkways and almost collided with an old lady on the bike. So, I decided to stop cycling. Its not easy to ride a bicycle after years without practice.

The houses were nicely arranged in terrace. I noticed few sub-jetties in between the residential area, which were accessible and interconnected through slim rivers. We stopped for my kids to enjoy the unusual view.

2 hours later, we were ready to head back to the jetty. But wait a minute..! Bird's Nest. Its been so long since the last drop. The nest is made of bird's saliva. Yuk! but AH..! what a cooling drool.... Thanks birdies.

My kids and I love Bird's nest. Our expenses there: RM25(USD8) for a tiny bowl, RM10(USD3.50) for a glass, and RM75(USD25) for a piece of unprepared nest. The owner proudly showed us the poster of her bird's house, built by her husband. Very profitable niche business.

Finally, we boarded the last boat at 6pm. Dusk were approaching when we touched the other side of the mainland.

50 minutes later we were home, just in time for me to finish my sketch of an old abandoned boat by the side or Klang river which captured my attention, earlier. The great journey, the seafood, the island, the beautiful view, the bicycle, the Bird's Nest and the boat ride were still in our mind. It was worth the time.