Dove

Old news - my fav chocolate bars have arrived in our shores!
Dove (known as Galaxy in the UK). Pics curik from Bangsar babe

Angin Ahmar

Entry Khidmat Masyarakat. Source: Nuursyifa

Penyakit Angin Ahmar ialah penyakit mati sebahagian badan, yang biasanya datang dengan tiba-tiba dan sukar pula untuk diubati. Walau bagaimana pun dengan rahmat dan belas kasihan Allah SWT kepada hamba-hamba-Nya maka melalui Nabi Muhammad Shallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam umat Islam dikurniakan Doa yang sangat mustajab dan besar faedahnya bagi menjauhi penyakit tersebut disamping lain-lain penyakit berbahaya dan bala bencana.

Penyakit Angin Ahmar ini mempunyai sejarahnya yang tersendiri, telah ada semenjak zaman Nabi Sulaiman a.s..Semasa baginda menerima mengadap segala rakyatnya termasuk segala jin, manusia dan binatang, tiba-tiba baginda merasa ujub atau bangga diri; dalam hatinya berkata siapakah makhluk Allah yang tidak mahu tunduk kepadanya.

Seketika itu juga menjelma satu makhluk seperti lembaga manusia, yang besar, gagah dan hebat serta garang. Nabi Sulaiman terkejut dan menggeletar lalu bertanya kepada lembaga itu siapakah dia, dan mengapa ia datang. Lembaga itu menjawab bahawa dia bernama Ar-Raihul-Ahmar (Angin Ahmar) iaitu penyakit yang amat berbahaya dari lain-lain penyakit. Ia diberi kuasa untuk mendatangkan kesakitan kepada anak cucu Adam, termasuk boleh meresap masuk ke dalam urat saraf dan darah, dan juga otak seseorang hingga hilang akal.

Nabi Sulaiman segera mengarahkan panglima-panglimanya agar membunuh Ar-Raihul-Ahmar itu; namun lembaga itu menjawab bahawa tiada sesiapa makhluk yang boleh membunuhnya, lalu segera menghilang. Angin Ahmar itu masih ada hingga zaman Nabi Muhammad Shallallahu 'Alaihi Wasallam dan zaman kita sekarang. Pada zaman Nabi Muhammad cucu baginda iaitu Saiyidina Hassan bin Ali pernah terkena penyakit rongga dan keluar darah. Ketika itu turun Malaikat Jibril dan memberitahu baginda bahawa Hassan terkena penyakit Angin, lalu baginda bertanya adakah ubat penawarnya. Jibril menjawab ada lalu ghaib. Sebentar kemudian Jibril kembali dan memberitahu Rasulullah, bahawa Allah SWT telah mengurniakan Doa mustajab bagi sesiapa yang membacanya walau pun sekali seumur hidupnya. Baginda pun membaca doa ini; lalu dengan sebentar itu juga sembuhlah Saiyidina Hassan, boleh berdiri dan sihat walafiat. Baginda lalu menganjurkan kepada para sahabat agar mengajarkan Doa ini kepada umat Islam sekalian.

Mereka yang terkena penyakit Angin Ahmar ini hendaklah berusaha mengamalkan membaca Doa ini seberapa kerap, terutama selepas solat. Setengah ulama menulis Doa tersebut dengan dakwat pada mangkuk atau pinggan putih; kemudian dibasuh dengan air lalu sebahagiannya diminum dan sebahagiannya disapukan pada anggota yang terkena penyakit tersebut. Yakinilah doa ini, kerana dengan keyakinan itu insya-Allah mereka yang terkena penyakit Angin Ahmar itu akan segera sembuh, terutama bagi yang belum terlalu berat penyakitnya.

Amalkanlah membaca Doa ini selalu, paling kurang sekali seumur hidup, insya-Allah akan terhindar dari penyakit yang berbahaya ini.

Maksudnya:

Dengan nama Allah Yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang; dan dengan-Nya kami memohon pertolongan; dan dengan Allah; dan dari Allah; dan kepada Allah; dan segala pujian tertentu bagi Allah; dan tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah; dan Allah Maha Besar, yang Maha Mulia dan Maha Agung; yang aku takut dan bimbang terhadap-Nya. Allah Maha Besar dengan segala kebesaran-Nya; segala pujian tertentu bagi Allah, sebanyak-banyak pujian. Dan Maha Suci Allah pagi-pagi dan petang-petang. Dengan nama Allah yang menyembuhkan, dengan nama Allah yang mencukupkan; dan dengan nama Allah yang menyihatkan; dengan nama Allah yang dengan nama-Nya tiada memberi mudharat sesuatu apa jua di bumi dan di atas langit, dan Dia Maha Mendengar lagi Maha Mengetahui. Dan Kami turunkan sesetengah dari Al-Quran yang menjadi penawar dan rahmat untuk orang-orang yang beriman.

Ya Allah, aku yang menjampi dan Engkau yang menyembuhkan. Aku berlindung dengan-Mu daripada kejahatan yang telah Engkau takdirkan. Allah Maha Besar, Allah Maha Besar, Allah Maha Besar. Aku berlindung dengan Allah, Tuhanku dan Penciptaku, Pembentukku dan Pencipta Rupabentukku dan Pemberi Rezeki sekalian manusia. Aku berlindung dengan Allah daripada sekalian kebinasaan, dan segala maksiat, bala bencana, penyakit dan segala kesakitan, kemalasan, kemunduran dan kebinasaan.

Ya Allah, lindungilah penanggung (pengguna) suratku ini dengan nama-Mu yang Maha Mulia dan Maha Agung; dan sifat-sifat-Mu yang sempurna, wahai Yang Mempunyai Kebesaran dan Kekayaan. Wahai Tuhan yang memiliki kerajaan dan alam malakut; wahai Tuhan yang memiliki keagungan dan kegagahan. Maha Suci Engkau, alangkah besarnya Engkau wahai pencipta segala langit dan bumi. Wahai Tuhan tempat berlindung mereka yang menyesal (akan dosa-dosa mereka); wahai Tuhan yang Maha Pengasih terhadap orang-orang miskin; wahai Tuhan pemilik kebesaran dan kekuasaan, wahai Tuhan yang mempunyai belas kasihan dan memberi kebajikan dan Ihsan; wahai Tuhan yang banyak kasih sayang, wahai Tuhan yang banyak memberi; wahai Tuhan yang Maha Gagah dan tiada sesiapapun yang mampu mengalahkan-Nya; wahai Yang Melindungi dan Dia tidak memerlukan perlindungan, aku berlindung dengan-Mu dari azab ke atas badan dan kesempitan; dan aku berlindung dengan-Mu dari penyakit Angin Ahmar dan penyakit yang besar yang menimpa ke atas diri dan roh, darah dan daging, tulang dan kulit, urat dan urat saraf.

Maha Suci Engkau; yang apabila Engkau menghendaki sesuatu maka Engkau hanya mengatakan “Jadilah! Maka jadilah ia”. Allah Maha Besar, Allah Maha Besar, Allah Maha Besar. Wahai Tuhan yang menjadikan; wahai Tuhan yang membuat kebajikan, wahai Tuhan yang memberi pertolongan, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Gagah, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Adil, wahai Tuhan yang Berdiri dengan Keadilan, wahai Tuhan yang mendengar tangisan orang-orang yang meminta pertolongan. Wahai Tuhan yang memulakan (dari tiada kepada ada), wahai Tuhan yang mengembalikan, wahai Tuhan yang menolak, wahai Tuhan yang Mencukupkan. Wahai Tuhan yang menyembuhkan, wahai Tuhan yang meng’afiatkan, wahai Tuhan yang memberi pertolongan terhadap orang yang memohon pertolongan.

Wahai Tuhan yang menerima kesyukuran, wahai Tuhan yang banyak memberi balasan atas kesyukuran. Wahai Tuhan yang Maha Kasih Sayang, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Belas Kasihan, wahai Tuhan yang memberi pertolongan, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Berkuasa, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Gagah, wahai yang Maha Berkuasa, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Agung, wahai Tuhan yang mendahulukan, wahai Tuhan yang mengkemudiankan. Wahai Tuhan yang hidup, wahai Tuhan yang berdiri dengan sendiri-Nya, yang membalas mereka yang jujur dengan balasan ke atas tiap-tiap diri dengan apa yang mereka usahakan. Wahai Tuhan yang memerintahku, wahai Tuhanku yang memiliki aku, wahai Tuhan yang memberi perlindungan.

Wahai yang Maha Mengetahui sesuatu yang kami sembunyikan dan kami dedahkan; wahai Hakim yang menjatuhkan hukuman, wahai Tuhan yang memerintah sekalian orang-orang yang beriman; wahai Tuhan pembantu orang-orang yang dhaif dan miskin; wahai Tuhan yang Mencukupi keperluan orang-orang yang bertawakkal.

Wahai Tuhan yang mendatangkan malam ke atas siang dan siang ke atas malam; wahai Tuhan yang Gagah (mengalahkan) setiap syaitan yang sangat durhaka, wahai Tuhan yang mengalahkan setiap orang yang sombong lagi degil; wahai Tuhan sebaik-baik Pemerintah; wahai Tuhan yang sebaik-baik memberi pertolongan, wahai Tuhan yang memberi rezeki kanak-kanak yang kecil, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Pengasih terhadap orang tuan (yang sangat tua), wahai Tuhan yang memerintah orang-orang yang beriman; wahai Tuhan bagi orang-orang yang dahulu dan orang-orang yang kemudian; wahai Tuhan yang pengasih kepada orang-orang yang bertaubat, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Pengasih dari kalangan yang mengasihi. Wahai Tuhan sebaik-baik pengampun dari yang mengampuni; wahai Tuhan sebaik-baik pewaris; wahai Tuhan sebaik-baik Pemberi Keputusan; wahai Tuhan yang memerintah pada Hari Pembalasan.

Ya Allah, hanya Engkaulah yang aku sembah dan hanya kepada Engkaulah aku memohon pertolongan. Dan kepada-Mu aku bertawakkal. Dan kepada-Mu aku gemar dengan apa yang ada di sisi-Mu. Kepada-Mu aku berharap dan hanya Engkau yang aku takuti. Ya Allah, peliharalah aku dari segala kepayahan hidup dan penyakit-penyakit dan segala kesakitaan dan kesusahan dan darah hitam.

Ya Allah, peliharalah aku dari penyakit yang merbahaya dan dari penyakit Angin Ahmar dan penyakit darah kuning, dan segala kebinasaan dan segala maksiat dan pengsan, dan kerungsingan dan kesedihan dan dukacita dan dari di penjara. Ya Allah, peliharalah aku dari kejahatan binatang buas, dan binatang yang melata, serta permusuhan (benci membenci) orang awam, dan dari kekalahan dan kejahatan syaitan; dan raja, kemarau, kemahalan barang keperluan, dan gempabumi, dan bala bencana, dan keruntuhan bangunan, dan serangan musuh. Ya Allah, peliharalah aku dari kejahatan orang-orang yang jahat dan tipudaya orang-orang yang melampau, dan dari sesuatu yang silih berganti atasnya oleh malam dan siang melainkan yang datang itu adalah dengan baik, wahai Tuhan yang Maha Pengasih lagi Maha Penyayang.

Aku berlindung dengan Engkau dari kejahatan setiap kejadian yang Engkaulah pemegang ubun-ubunnya; sesungguhnya Tuhanku di atas jalan yang tegak dan lurus. Engkau ialah Tuhanku dan di atas Engkau jua aku bertawakkal, dan Engkaulah yang Mencukupkan aku, dan sebaik-baik yang Mewakili, sebaik-baik Pemerintah dan sebaik-baik yang Memberi Pertolongan. Dan tiada daya upaya bagiku melainkan dengan Allah yang Maha Tinggi lagi Maha Agung.

Dan cukuplah kami oleh Allah, dan sebaik-baik yang mewakili sebagai Pemerintah dan Engkau sebaik-baik pemberi pertolongan. Allah yang mencukupkan, Allah yang menyembuhkan, Allah yang memberi a’fiat. Dan ucap selawat oleh Allah ke atas penghulu kami Nabi Muhammad dan ke atas keluarga dan sahabat-sahabatnya; selamat sejahtera; dan segala pujian bagi Allah Tuhan Pemerintah Seluruh Alam. Amiin…

Pencuri Kasut

Weeks ago, Khalis wanted to letak all our shoes outside. So I said that its not a good idea coz i suspek kat sini ade pencuri kasut.
But he biasa la, didnt listen to me.. So regardless of my warning, he transferred all our shoes outside..all but one - special request from me, to keep my ONE favourite shoes inside.
So today, when he went outside, he masuk balik and told that his Kasut A (kasut hantaran, baru pkai sekali) and Kasut B (seb baik dah koyak) kene curi.. Khalis nyer shoes ade 2 groups 1) Bata shoes 2) Non-Bata shoes.. Of course la kasut Bata pencuri tuh x ambik kan..My shoes sume selamat..
So terus he ordered me to letak one of our shoeracks inside and keep our Bata shoes and slippers je kat luar...

Tak best lak kan kalau xde gamba.. so ini le rupe nyer our shoe rack..ade 2 in blue.. i prefer it if we stack up sume jadi 4-tier, but Khalis suke buat 2+2..

Random

Wrote this on Friday last week...and now I'm still in the office and bored

Ok..I'm bored.
I'm at the office and my office nyer laptop rosak since Wednesday. Dunno what the problem is. So now I'm just waiting for IT team to come and fix it.
One IT guy came yesterday (while I was having a meeting elsewhere).. He wasnt sure what the prob is and I plak wasnt around to answer his questions so he just left and nothing got fixed.
I showed my laptop to Khalis on Wed and he said that it could be a hardware prob, most likely the motherboard.

So now I bring my own laptop to the office and the only website I can access is my office nyer mailbox. I've requested for full access, but tunggu lah IT guy datang (KALAU datang la..) today.. My documents and work sume in my office laptop so I now I basically tak bleh buat keje lah..
So what am I doing now? NOTHING.. and dengar2 lagu dalam laptop.. tuh je..If my cubicle is tersorok, I would have watched the drama2 dalam laptop ni.. (Update: IT guy came on Tuesday - a week after it was reported - and I was having a meeting outside, so I told him to take my laptop and do whatever. He cited few network and hardware problems and couldnt guarantee that I could get it back this week. So I've been laptop-less for more than a week now. And I was granted full access to the internet only yesterday)

Ok..alang2 takde keje, tulis pasal random things je lah..

Nothing much happening in my life now.. Khalis is gonna be away for two days - teambuilding at PD.. and I will travelling to Indonesia next week for a 7-day trip.. But my business visa application is still pending.. Hopefuli our Indonesian side can get it done before next week. (Update: I have obtained the business visa but my SKJ application is still pending)

Khalis and I have sent our baju raya to our fav tailor in Kajang..2 pasang each..his baju will siap next week I think, but mine, 3rd week Ramadhan baru siap..Our colour theme this year is brownish grey..

I attend lotsa meetings/ discussions outside nowadays..Like 2-3 days/ week.

I attended my school nyer mini gathering at midveli few weeks ago. It was really fun and I got to meet friends that I havent seen for 10 years! The girls were pretty much the same, but there were few guys that mmg lain gile.. I had to leave early, like 430pm but the rest ber-gathering sampai mlm. They now have plans for mega gathering at our school during raya. I hope that it will materialise tho not sure yet if I'd be able to attend.
I'm so happy to know that my friends are now doing very well and have great careers. I'm so proud of you guys!

When I'm happy, I buy this. When I'm not happy, I oso buy this.
Its the very first BR ice-cream that I tried and because its so good I never wanted to try any other flavours.

My fav japanese actor (its so hard to find a good picture of this guy)



and my fav japanese actress
For koreans plak there are so many x larat nk list here.

HD2

I've had this phone for 3 years now. Bought it in Cardiff with Khalis from super cute Orange salesperson named Artie. Artie was kind enough to give me good number as well, my number then ended with 5555.

I'd been surveying for new phone for months before I got myself this new phone. It was at first a tie between 3GS and Desire. I waited for Desire for so long but by launch date, I got tawar hati. So 3GS je lah now left.. However, there was then news about 4G (remember the exclusive by Gizmodo?) so I had to consider another target.. Why buy 3GS kalau ade 4G right? But if I wanna wait for 4G, next year la baru masuk Msia right...This HD2 was really an impulse buy.. I never considered it before. One day Khalis and I went jalan2, masuk random shops and ended up buying it. I didnt really think about it carefully pon..

So now I've had HD2 for 2 weeks but I haven't really use it.. Waiting for the screen protector to arrive (whyyyyy la I bought the SP online????).. I havent inserted my simcard, just mlm2 gune for youtube.. So when I get the SP, I'm gonna load it up with millions of games and apps..

I dont think I can write a review on this HD2 coz I ni bukan le tech savvy.. But so far so good, very responsive and the big screen is awesome so when I go traveling like dlm ERL or tunggu flight ke, or tunggu meeting/seminar to start.. (I dunno why, I have no car and rely on taxi all the time but I always be the first to arrive at whatever events..especially in the morning, kalau cakap nk start kol 9,I of course la 830 like that dah sampai but they always have to start at like 930 coz org datang lambat sbb traffic jam etc.).. I can watch movies/drama..so its a really 2in1 device for me..

Gizmodo said that "in terms of hardware, its the nicest phone in the world" but "burdened with a categorically disappointing OS".. and lagi..."the HD2 is, without qualification, the best Windows Mobile phone on the market right now. And being a Windows Mobile phone isn't all bad: The browsers have Flash, Exchange support is perfect, and multitasking is seamless. On top of that, the Sense shell is an impressive piece of software, especially in terms of social networking and media playback. But the point remains: Even behind the very convincing disguise of a modern phone, Windows Mobile is lagging well behind its competitors in terms of new app development, fast OS development and general user experience, and by the time you get your hands on this phone—and just as importantly, by the time your contract is halfway through—Windows Mobile 6.5, Sense or no Sense, will feel like a complete dinosaur. Hence the "wait"—for a similar phone with better software, or for Windows Mobile 7. That said, if you're a Windows Mobile fan, or aware of its various quirks and still willing to take the dive, this is the finest Windows Phone in the world, bar none"

The news that I heard is that HD2 users would be able to upgrade to WM 7.. so I'm just crossing my fingers now.. hopefuli from now onwards WM pon mcm Windows jgak, boleh downgrade and upgrade sesuka ati..

Of the three above, I think HD2 looks the nicest.. Desire is said by many to be the best phone of the three, but it really feels cheap in your hand...too plasticky IMO..

Kedah Trip

Wrote this few weeks ago..

Khalis and I are currently in Sungai Petani and we just came back from Pantai Merdeka and Gunung Jerai. Well we didnt actually go to Pantai Merdeka, we just went to the jetty to Pantai Merdeka. Pantai Merdeka's just like 300m from the jetty.

Anyway, the highlight of our day was Gunung Jerai. We drove up to the (almost) peak and discovered heaven. There's a new resort at the summit, The Regency Jerai Hill Resort which was officially open only last month. It was previously a goverment bungalow but the bungalow now is nowhere in sight replaced by 72 chalets instead. (But it didnt look like 72 to me. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe 25, max)

A 12km winding road connects the main road to the resort and after travelling that road, we found that Cameron Highlands is nothing. It's very steep and the corners are really sharp (a lot were u-turn like). Good thing was that its only 12km.

It was still early when we reached the top and we couldnt see anything on the grounds below as the mist was too thick. (Khalis and I were arguing if the mist's actually cloud. If you look at Gunung Jerai from afar, you'd see that the summit's blanketed with clouds. But once on top, its kinda hard to 'swallow' that we're IN the clouds.) And there was light drizzle as well. The weather got better 15mints later and we were presented with a truly magnificent view - as if there's another set of heaven below with both sawahs and sea in the picture..

The air was sooooooo fresh, pretty much the same air we breathed in Norway, but maybe 4 or 5 degree Celcius higher. We walked around admiring the beauty and pastuh brenti makan at the only diner there, Puncak Kedah, which was a fine-dining kinda thing. We sat at the best table (view-wise) in the restaurant and ordered latte, apple juice and toast. The only 'potong' thing was that they were trimming the lawn when we were waiting for our food and noise they made was super loud

Architeture-wise, the resort is ok. Wasnt actually great (except the suites) but acceptable. But the view from all the rooms mmg awesome and you couldnt care less about the building. Besides, the rooms are cheap too. The most expensive ones are yours for RM500/night. I totally understand the thinking. Why invest heavily and build something like YTL's Pangkor Laut when it cant attract the kinda crowd Pangkor Laut does? Besides, I'd believe that being gazetted as hutan simpan kekal there's not much land available for development up there and limited facilities = limited upside income potential

I like the resort, but I wouldnt recommend it to everyone. Other than great view and fresh air, there's nothing else there. If you're the kind that can survive with only good books+internet and value fresh air and great view more than good food and fun activities, then this is the place for you.

I didnt bring my camera, and the photos from Khalis's phone aren't that great. But the blogs below did entries on the resort.

Dan Liew
Fastblox

Hampess

Years ago when I heard that Pak Lah's gonna be the new PM I was like - *sambil shook my head in disbelief* Oh no..What would happen to Malaysia?? To have someone whose IQ's even lower than mine at the helm would be totally disastrous to the country. And I couldnt believe the support he was getting from the rakyat either. But it surely didnt take long for both Mahathir and penyokong2 sekalian to realise that they made a serious mistake by supporting the appointment / appointing him.

Before I continue writing, let me just make it clear that I am not an anti-BN or anti kerajaan. I hate Anwar Ibrahim (before and after he was TPM) and I dont even exercise my right to vote. But if I do, I will vote for the ppl and not the party they represent. And it really pisses me off when ppl say something like - pegi oversea pkai duit kerajaan now nk lawan kerajaan plak. Well excuse me, I always sokong kerajaan ok. But whether I sokong BN or not, that's totally a different story la kan. Yes, I used duit kerajaan but the duit kerajaan didnt come from BN. Its taxpayers' money and people get taxed regardless of their political views.

My blood actually went upstairs when I read that Pak Lah just gave out two exploration blocks to Brunei for free. I never expected Pak Lah to do something extraordinary and bring Malaysia to greater heights, just, you know, continue doing what he does best i.e. sleep and dont touch anything that you dont know. But he just had to, had to you know, be a hero for the Bruneians and made them 1 billion barrels richer. Yes, sure, Malaysia can co-develop the o&g resources in the blocks for 40 years but how bout the land that's lost? I would have nothing against this 'land give away' if its done via proper channels i.e. its proven that it mmg (rightfully) belongs to Brunei. For something like this Pak Lah, u kene la discuss with everyone. Not just those few you knew would angguk to whatever you said. Kalau dah the Agong and Majlis Raja2 pon knew nothing, you tot this country belonged to you alone ke? We should totally dictate a new law act to punish those yg jual negara mcm Pak Lah ni. And our new PM, please say something. Dont tell me Pak Lah told you nothing and just wash you hands off this. I'm sure you were one of his 'yes men' then. And this kind of major blunder makes me wonder..what else did you screw up when you were up there Pak Lah? Fess up!



And it seems like the media isnt covering this enough. To me, this deserves the publicity that Batu Putih garnered. But that's expected of them la kan.

F1 @ Sepang

an outdated entry written longggggggggggg time ago...

On Tuesday, Khalis emailed me and said that we're gonna watch F1 at Sepang this weekend. He got two free tickets but only for qualifying session on Saturday.
I wasnt really excited to go - the heat, the noise, the crowd.. but who knows, I might love it..

We got good seats - Mall Area, Main Grandstand North, Lower Tier. Block N1.20, Row G, Seat 27 & 28. The seats were covered. When he first told me that we were going, I tot - alamak..what if kene duduk kat Hillstand?? So naseb baek arh..
Other than live viewing, we were also entitled to free lunch and tea and transportation (naik bus from KLCC).

It was the first time for me watching F1 live (I wouldnt pay RM1,200 for this - pegi holiday lagi bagus!!) but Khalis been here couple of times already.

So on Sat, we gerak from home at 10am and arrived at KLCC around 1030am and at 1130am we boarded the bus to Sepang. We arrived at Sepang an hour later and it was so hot!! (well, not that I didnt expect it to be).. We jalan2 around first and checked out the merchandise sold. We got to our seats few minutes before the training session started. Our seats were right in front of the starting grid..Bosan2 takde nk buat ape, we collected our lunch boxes first. The food was prepared by Hard Rock Cafe and it was ok and still warm when we had it.

Then the practice session started. The noise was too hard on my ears (not just me, everyone!) so we went out halfway, pusing2 mall area once again and bought earplugs. By now, I was sweating like a pig and everywhere reeked of alcohol. Before we got in again, we bought ourselves ice-cream but it had no cooling effect on us. We were few mints late and missed the starting for Formula BMW. We watched the race till its finished and then we saw the rain coming. Yay!! thats a blessing for me! We were hoping for an early start, but it didnt happen. So we waited until 4pm for the qualifying session to start. I have no plan to write on the qualifying session coz its widely covered in the press.

We rushed to the parking lot as soon as it's over and boarded maybe the first or second bus out.
I dont find F1 as exciting as say, tennis. My FB status few days ago read "..jatuh hati dengan bunyi jentera F1"No, that wasnt me..Khalis hijacked my FB.
I dont mind going to F1 again...but not Hillstand tho..

The tickets
One of the very few photos of the cars (during the race) that we managed to take.
The podium

Project Pentium

Remember my old laptop which had served me well for 4 years? Well, Khalis and I tot that it had rested long enough and its about time we took it out from the closet.
Khalis decided to change the processor so we bought a new processor last night - COD at Jalan Pasar (the dodgy side of KL I never knew!! - Khalis said its not fair to say that its dodgy coz I was only there at night, during the day its quite 'meriah')..Its an old laptop thus finding a compatible processor was a slight headache.

Its quite an achievement even for Khalis. He had worked on hundreds of PCs but its the first time ever he installed a processor to a laptop. Khalis doubted that he would have the patience to deal with all the small parts and the process would be very tedious that we initially wanted to pay someone else to do the installation for us.

He started at 630pm and finished at 830pm

Old processor
New processor mounted on motherboard

Good thing about this new processor is that its intelligent enough to 'speedstep'

Idle mode~~
Working hard~~
We changed the RAM a year ago, today plak processor so next Khalis cakap tuka hard disk plak.. Tuka hard disk is easy peasy..but part nk kuar kn duit susah sket =P

Again!

I will start at a new department next week. Panjang ceritanya but its not my story to tell. I will be back in HQ but am going to do something totally new to me. I'm still not sure of my new job scope, but whatever it is, i dont care la..
However..ade sedeh sket coz I just let go of a great opportunity (good rewards+good career path+something that I've always wanted to do since uni)..
Good news is, I no longer need a car..

Lunch: Summer Palace

I had a great lunch experience today. Actually I didnt know what that lunch was for. I got the invitation and accepted it, no questions asked.

The lunch we had was at Summer Palace, Marriott Putrajaya so we had to drive all the way to Putrajaya from KL. There were supposed to be 6 attendees but two bosses couldn't make it so there were only 4 of us. We gerak at 12pm and because the EVP wasn't around, we got to use his car.

When we Summer Palace, we were escorted to the VIP room and immediately the starter was served. There were 10 dishes for us on the menu. I didnt take any picture there, but I brought home the menu booklet.

Sliced Octopus with Apple Sauce
Stuffed Crab Claw with Salted Egg Yolk
Pan-fried Lamb Rack Cantonese Style
Double-Bolied Hai Fu Shark's Fin in Superior Stock
Steamed Bamboo Fish Hong Kong Style
Smoked Crispy Qing Yuan Chicken
Braised Supreme Whole Abalone with Fish Maw
Stir-Fried Baby Kailan with Garlic
Baked Rice with Seafood and Cheese in Pineapple Boat
Double-Boiled Bird Nest with Six Treasures
I cant comment on the taste but the presentation was awesome.

While having our meals, my colleagues educated me on Chinese dining etiquette/table manners.
I remember the following

1-Seating arrangement
Main host should sit facing the door (oh yes, must book a room and guests shouldnt be treated to meals at common dining area) and the second host on the opposite of the main host. If there are third and fourth hosts, the third one should sit on the main host's 9 o'clock and the fourth one on 3 o'clock. The most important guest is seated on the main host's right and second most important on the left. The rest of the guests are seated (according to rank) in clockwise direction from the second most important guest. The waiter must serve the most important guest first followed by the second guest, third guest and so on.. Guests from China would be offended if these arrangements are not observed. However, many Chinese restaurants in Malaysia (even 5-star hotels) dont know of these things so every time my colleagues bring China delegates out for meals, they always have to educate the staffs of the restaurants first.

2-Napkin as per pic below - under the plate. The rest of the napkin should sit on the lap.
3- When you wanna do the 'cheers' thingy, those of the lower ranks cant raise their cups/glasses higher than those of higher ranks

4-Chinamen pay great attention to courtesy. We didnt have 'personal' waiters for us at Summer Palace but if you go to China and book a room at a restaurant, dont be surprised to see if they allocate 2 waiters per guest.

5-Declining a toast is considered rude. And they dont understand why cant Muslims consume alcohol coz they've seen lotsa Muslims do.

6-The glass for toast should be full and it must be emptied

I was shocked when I saw the bill - it was more than RM900 per person. As for the total, multiply that by 4. Khalis didnt believe me when I told him that. He said he'd eaten at Summer Palace before and it wasnt that expensive. True - New Year's Eve buffet was only RM140 there and even I myself wouldnt believe it either if I didnt see it with my own eyes.

We reached the office at 300pm and now I'm kenyang gile..

Dinner 230310

Khalis wanted to have spaghetti last night.. He said..dah lamaaaa nk makan my spaghetti.. So I prepared carbonara for him (menyesal plak rasanya x ambik gamba..but takpe..its just carbonara je pon).. Khalis finished 2 pinggan of spaghetti and I ate 1/3 of what he had.

My fav drink in the entire universe is Coconut Shake. Imagine my surprise when Khalis said he never heard of it. Perhaps it only exists in the East Coast? coz I've never seen it in KL. My earliest memory of Coconut shake's when I was 8. maybe 9 or 10. I first had it at Kada Stop Salor. I think it was invented by Kada coz it was only 1 or 2 years after Kada Stop that I started seeing it being sold everywhere. But the taste's never as good as Kada Stop's.
So last night I prepared Coconut Shake for him. 1 coconut gave me 4 glasses. I used kelapa pandan, so the coconut taste wasnt as strong as normal nyer kelapa. But the result was still good. At least better than pasar mlm kt kg nyer. And Khalis loved it!!

Pulut Mangga

I made pulut mangga tonite. It wasnt my first attempt, but the first one didnt turn out really well so I gave it another go tonite. Khalis said that it could be because of the santan - I used santan segera. So this time, I bought shaved coconut instead and squeezed santan out of it myself. And I tell you, it was such a painful experience I have no wish to go through again. My hand hurt so much!

We also changed the mangga. Last time we used waterlily and this time we experimented with mangga madu and mas hitam. We concluded that the pulut's best with mangga madu.

Celcom B.band

One of the 'benefits' that I got being in my old dept was this.

But I handed it over today. My transfer was effective Feb 2010 but I still kept it for approx. 2 months, when I had no right to..hahahha.
I hardly used it - only when I went traveling and balik kg. Or when I wanted to download music/video files at the office. So farewell you little one. You had served me well.

On a separate matter, I went out for lunch with friends from my old dept today. Got myself good gossips, good food and good company (pls note the order..hahhah =P)..

Saturday 140310

I just stay at home today.

But I went out yesterday with Khalis and his family. First we went to see Alice in Wonderland. Was planning to watch this Fri last week but I couldnt get to KLCC on time. Anyway, Khalis and I went to Tropicana first and collected the tickets for everyone. They bought 8 tickets online when there were actually 7 of us. I found the movie ok2 only. Khalis said x best. I'd give 3 stars out of 5.

His parents went to a kenduri afterwards but they tapau Kenny Rogers for lunch for everyone. Khalis and I plak pegi drove round2 poli (me drove, Khalis komplennnnnnn aje) to perfect my cornering skills. And then Khalis and his bro went to pick up the hard disk he sent for repair and window shopping brg2 komputer.

At night we went out for dinner. To celebrate his bro's recent success in SPM (all A's) his dad brought us to One World Hotel. His uncle's family joined us too.

So yeah, my diet was ruined yesterday.
1-Sausage Roll for breakfast
2-Caramel popcorn + mirinda oren+ nugget while watching movie
3-1/4 KR roasted chicken
4-Buffet dinner

Super Junior

Back in 2008 Khalis promised me that he'd bring me to this particular concert. No, he doesnt like Super Junior. In fact he doesnt listen to anything he doesnt understand.


But now, 2 years later and 15 days to the concert, I dont feel like going.. Why? Saje malas..

Cubaan membuat roti 2

I baked again on Saturday. and I got better results this time - success rate of 75%. The bread's no longer moist, the fluffiness improved but not yet satisfactory. Khalis was neutral about my bread - he didnt mind eating it and he appreciated the effort.

This time
1-Proofing of 2 hours.
Did the dough miracle! It was a lot less stickier and easier to shape!

2-Baked longer with lower temp
The dough was slightly burnt (I mean now I got the brown colour on top)

3-Dissolved all small-quantity items in water
No more lumps!

Honestly I dont know what else to do to get better bread other than
a) buy a bread maker
b) buy new oven

For now I just make do with my bread ni je lah

Cubaan membuat roti

I was very ambitious today. I could hardly bake a cake but I skipped that and went straight to bread.

I baked roti paun

Verdict: 65% success
The taste was ok..But the texture definitely x jadi. Wasnt really fluffy and its slightly moist.
I wonder what the prob could be..
1 - The Oven?
I used microwave oven so I dunno where the heat came from. top? bottom? sides? all direction? (ok, tipu la x tau kan..the heat comes from top..but the distribution? ok, I dunno what I'm talking about) mebi when it comes to bread, the heat must come from specific direction
2-The Kneading
I used my hand. And I could still feel lumps of butter+flour.. Will try using mixer next. But dunno if mixer's strong enough for the dough
3-Too much flour?
I didnt weigh the ingredients.. Just campak2 je..
4-Didnt allow enough time for proofing?
Ok, will try 2 hours next time

One of my friends is a bread+pastry+cake expert. Was planning to ask her what went wrong but found out today that she's been diagnosed with cancer. Explains why my recent emails were not replied to. My heart goes out to her.................

Note:
Beza Bread Softener &Bread improver
Dua bahan dlm membuat roti adalah Bread (atau dough) Softener dan Bread Improver. Dough Softener melembut dan menggebukan roti sementara Bread Improver membuat ia mudah kembang.

Today's gotta be one of my happiest days this year. On Thursday, I ran an errand for Khalis. So after I was done, I said - you have to bring me shopping this week. So he agreed.
So this morning, we went to 1U. And for the first time (I'm thinking in my whole life) he just followed me as I entered and exited the shops in 1U. He didn't complain, not one word and even gave me suggestions!! You see, Khalis hates waiting - 5 mints late and you'll see him fuming. and hates doing pointless things - like go shopping without having any idea what to buy or trying out clothes and end up buying nothing. I did all those 3 today and he was still ok and even drove that extra miles to Kinrara R&R so that we could have our satay. Yes, guilt is a powerful tool, ladies and gentleman.

Anyway, what made me super happy was not that he brot me shopping. But...
because I found this one thing that I'd been looking high and low for in the last 2 years!!
All in all, I'm very happy with the stuff that I bought today.

I'm not kaki shopping.. Usually I buy like, 1 top/month..I'm a minimalist and I hate having too many things. I use all my shoes/handbags until there's no more wear left then baru beli new ones. But sometimes (like today) I just feel like gatal2 tangan nk shopping..

Cameron Highland Trip: Day 3

We checked out at 1000 and drove up to Kea Farm. First we bought fried mushroom then we bought lotsa vegie (some still in the fridge at the moment), strawberries, corn and another bottle of honey. Then we said goodbye to Cameron.
Khalis drove down the hills and when we reached Tapah, I took over and drove until Tanjung Malim. We stopped at Tanjung Malim en route for the famous Yik Mun pau. This Yik Mun pau is so wait for it..LEGENDARY (How I Met Your Mother, anyone?) and maybe the best in Malaysia. I never had a pau any softer and fluffier. The filling's generous too. Having the pau really brot back memories. I remember eating the pau with Khalis in Tanjung Malim, tepi longkang summore, during our college days.

Office Warming

On Thursday, we had office warming party at where else, our office la rite. Actually not my office, their office la..coz me, I'm just menumpang je kan..It was during lunch and they invited about 50 ppl. They had been planning this for weeks and my colleague who's sitting in front of me called the caterer (almost) everyday in the two weeks I've been here. So naturally ppl thot that I was part of the team and I only clarified this to the ppl I knew. I didnt want ppl to start asking why I'm here when I'm not supposed to.

So we had yee sang from Maju Palace.
My colleagues were preparing yee sang...

And nasi minyak + ayam goreng berempah + daging masak biryani + sambal udang + acar + fruits..

Food was great and I took some home for dinner. We had dinner at 830 and the food was still good. No signs of its gonna go stale in the next 4 hours or so

Cameron Highland Trip: Day 2

Ok..now we move on to our 2nd day in Cameron Highlands.
We went Ee Feng Gu Bee Farm first thing in the morning. No breakfast whatsoever. The bee farm was located further up Kea Farm .
Well yesterday I suggested to him that we go to one of the bee farms in Cameron. and Khalis just said no without much thinking. Said that bees would sting us..yeah, right. I didnt know what got into him that night but he suddenly googled for bee farms in Cameron and was adamant that we visited the biggest one (Ee Feng Gu) first thing in the morning

Small boxes (cant have hives here, can we?) for bees were everywhere.. The bee farm was ok2 la..nothing like fairytale..I dont know, but I think that there're not enough flowers for that many bees in the farm. Before we left we bought one big bottle of wild honey and one small jar of royal jelly
Khalis: Tgk, lebah ni posing utk kita lah!!


Then we went to Kea Farm market. Parking was a bitch. We had to go up and down the road twice before we found a spot behind a bus. Again, I bought fried mushroom. We just pusing2, see what they got there and before we went to our next destination, we bought bebola2 and corn cup. I must say this - Its the best corn cup ever!! The corn itself was reallllllllllllyyy sweet. When I bought corn cup in KL or where ever, I always asked for extra susu pekat.. I dont usually take sweet things - but in the rare occasion than I do, I prefer them to be super2 sweet.

Then we went to Big Red Strawberry Farm - Taman Agrotourism Cameron Highlands. Its big, but its really steep going up the hill and even steeper going down... (if its not steep, it aint Cameron).. Good thing was we were allowed to drive up the hill. So we saw lotsa veggie and fruits, some at their peak, some seeing the world for the first time. The cactus here was so cheap - small ones: 6 for RM10. I actually wanted to buy a few, but I wasnt so sure where to put them. There's a shop at the top and I ordered fresh strawberry juice. And guess what? Big mistake. Yes, strawberries in Cameron might look soo red, juicy, and so enticing. But they're anything but sweet. So I had no choice but to finish my RM4 sour strawberry juice (sayang duit ok!!). Khalis had strawberry milkshake which was really good.
Some pics from the farm..



Khalis had been mentioning KFC since yesterday, so when we got to Brinchang, we went to KFC. I got myself toasted twister and Khalis plak ordered this new set with shrimp nuggets. After KFC, we decided to go to Air Terjun Sungai Bisik only to be greeted by locked gate. So we went back up and stopped for a while at Cameron Valley Tea Shop (Bharat). Seriously, do not buy anything here. They sold 2 scones for RM12. There's absolutely no way a scone could cost more than RM2. Just flour, milk, sugar, salt, raisin and butter. No imported cheese whatsoever.

Then we went back to our room. We lepak2 and at night we went out for dinner. We went to the same Indian restaurant we went the night before. I ate cheese nan and chicken tikka and khalis ordered plain nan and chicken tandoori..Then we watched this Brit movie 'An Education' in our room. The movie's not bad at all. Everyone with teenage daughters aged 14-20 should make their daughters watch this at least once. Preferably with Taylor Swift's Fifteen played on the background.

Cheap lunch

There's this place downstairs where I can get Lunch for RM3.50. RM3.50!! Where else in KL can u get lunch for RM3.50???.. ok la..kat stalls by the roadside can la right?? but proper restaurant with aircond??No, right?
So this place has aircond, tables and chairs made of solid wood and half the of crews are Malaysians..Would you say no to a place like this that serves lunch for RM3.50?? I, for a fact, tapau my lunch from there like 4 days a week..saves me lotsa money..
Khalis never spends less than RM7 for lunch..and thats with just plain water.

Cameron Highlands Trip: Day 1

We're now at Cameron Highlands - honeymoon no 4. I'm writing this from our room..

Cameron Highlands Day 1 (Friday):

I went through a hard time few weeks ago. Thats why Khalis brought me to Umbai and planned for our Cameron trip this week.

We left home at 1030. At first he drove and then I drove from Rawang to Tg Malim. And he continued until we reached Tanah Rata. I havent been to Cameron for years and I didnt remember how bad the road was. Long and winding journey! Khalis was an extremely good driver. Its the first time in my whole life that I actually reached Cameron without even the slightest bit of nausea. When we got there, naturally, we checked in first.

The hotel is just 2 mints away (by foot) from the main road (or the city itself). Our room is ok. A lil bit small but its clean, pretty basic but we get what we need. Most of the guests here are mat salleh and I was surprised that the hotel (actually its not a hotel la..guesthouse je la kot) is fully booked.

The temp outside is just nice but a lil bit colder in our room. The room doesnt have aircond or fan coz there's no need for one. And the air is so fresh!

What we did during the day:
We planned to have our lunch in tanah rata but accidentally drove all the way to Brinchang! We went to one of the foodcourts and I had rice+telur bungkus+tea and Khalis had nasi goreng kg+tomyam+horlicks. Traders/farmers were setting up their stalls when we got there, so we checked out some of the stalls. We bought fried mushroom (I love cendawan goreng, I love cendawan goreng, I love cendawan goreng, I love cendawan goreng!!) sweet potato,jagung bakar and 6 packets of dried fruits (so cheap!! just RM10 for 6!!). I could totally live here. The vege is super cheap - Ten packets for RM12!!

Dried fruits


Then we went to Boh. Going to Bharat would be easier but Khalis prefer Boh coz its the first one in cameron. when we got there, its already 420 and the teashop closes at 430. But we didnt care and ordered our food anyway. We loved the surroundings. Everywhere was green and the aromatic scent of tea.

View from the parking lot
The tea shop

Scone! A must have here (baru feeling UK sket)
Then we went to the view point. The journey up the hill was 174m and we got there panting coz its really steep.

View from the View Point
Spot the head!


We didnt do much at night. Had our dinner at an indian restaurant in tanah rata. I ordered chicken soup and khalis ordered mee mamak. Then we pusing2 town - went in and out all souvenir shops that were opened but bought nothing.

Its really cold at night. Now I'm shivering in my room