a purple dinosaur

the past few days has been a mad rush of last-minute errands, cancelling of subscriptions, packing and more packing, and fulfilling family duties.

but we made time to head down to IMM last night to catch Barney at 7pm.

now why do i get the feeling that we were more excited about it than Ilhan was? there we were trying to hold him up high so he can see amidst the sea of dancing kids and kids-perched-on-tall-daddies-shoulder, and he didn't appear that impressed. i was the one singing and swaying to Mr Golden Sun and the whole medley of songs (yup..i've gone from screaming and swaying at Bon Jovi concert to this) and of course, the mother of all hymns, "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family....."

and all the while Ilhan had this nonchalant look on his face.

oh well.

leaving for a staff retreat at Batam tomorrow, Ilhan and husband in tow. that's the good thing about being in this family-first institution.

those pre-digital era

in tandem with all the hassle of moving and clearing and packing, i had to do something about my collection of travel photos all unceremoniously dumped in a box. yeah yeah..i know some people diligently collect receipts and tickets and other mementos of a trip and nicely put them together with the photos in an album, but after all the unpacking and developing pics i never really get around to doing it.

bear in mind, that my days of gallivanting around southeast asia was in the pre-digital era, yup...unthinkable that there was no digital camera just about 5 years back, isn't it? but then again, i am very very very new in this digital world, with us getting our very first digital camera just last year.

yeah, i'm one of those anachronistic techno-phobe who prefers letters and cards to emails and solid-photos-i can-hold-in-my-hands to viewing them on my pc monitor.

so anyway, now i'm trying hard to compress my life into a more manageable entity (again, i am one of those peple who still keeps her history and lit essays written in secondary school and jc partly because *she thinks she writes so well ha ha ha* and mainly because she's one sentimentel junkie). i was thinking, if i were to die suddenly, i'll be leaving a whole lot of junk for my loved ones to go through and decide what to make of it all. i mean, if Lina can move to KL lock, stock, barrel with only 2 suitcases, i should too.

so where was i?

right. pre-digital photos. so there i was spending an awfully long time sifting thru old photos trying to decide what to keep/what to throw. and my whole life just flashed through before my eyes. literally. those cheesy and oh-so-funny secondary school photos, angsty junior-college days, chatting days, nus-renaissance days, and sweet matair days when me and Husband were pounds lighter and look oh-so-young.

and then there were the gorgeous wedding photos (if i may say so myself), and Ilhan's photos which, left uncontrolled, will override anything else. but then i guess i have to thank MIL for being the faithful archivist of Ilhan's photos since birth to all-of-19 months now.

where was i again?

oh ya..so anyway, now i'm embarking on this ambitious project to digitalise all my photos (meaning scanning ALL of them) and having them in soft copy instead. then i can *probably* throw away all those bulky albums and clear my house of clutter. no?

not a good idea, eh?

what does everyone do with old photos? sayang kan?

Laos 2003

keluar tv lagi

was taking a break, reading papers and surfing tv channels and watching zach having lunch while telling me how his wife managed to kick Days of Our Lives out of her system when a CNA documentary on my Vietnam trip in 2000 was on again on CNA.

how does doing laborious work (which entails erecting fences, constructing steps and pathways and toilets, dividing classrooms, sandpapering and varnishing crumbling wooden benches and tables), cooking meals for 30 people while fasting sound? add climbing a mountain on top of all that.

priceless.

so too, friendship formed with the hearing-impaired guys who let us in their silent secret world.

the documentary showed the time went we went up the mountain and had that campfire thing. momentarily i was stung by memory of getting news of Helmi's death on that same day. the shock and disorientation i felt upon receiving the sms and the breakdown i had.

contemplated mortality for days after that.

experiences - priceless.

 

Me & Ilhan Mansiz

P1010995.JPG 2006-05-11

Turkey - a must for history buffs.

she will be loved

aai got married on saturday.

my once-sworn-enemy aka my sister. the 5-year age gap was just too big when we were growing up, and she was just a pesky little sister who takes, uses and hides my stuff.

it was only when she was in poly that we could talk normal, and you would realise that we're actually related by blood.

so the Delinquent Child has grown and blossomed. character-wise, we are on opposite poles. but i love her nonetheless. so here's to a fantastic and blessed life ahead sister.

back to the wedding. it was nice seeing the clan again. creepy if you think about it. we are normally brought together by rites of passage - weddings or funerals. but with the all the cousins growing up and multiplying and the North-South Highway not sounding so intimidating anymore, we do the road-trip pretty often now. for any reason. check out the mileage of our wheels.

anyway, most of the clan now knows of our impending Big Move. i sure am going to miss all these. like how to my utter amazement Mak Uda uses the word 'berjelaga' in her sentence (as in "Periuk dah berjelaga susah nak bersih balik") and Mak Usu translating it as 'soot', when this Cikgu Melayu Alaf Baru ONLY learnt the word a month ago after analysing Rangga's poem in Ada Apa dengan Cinta.

anyway, it amuses me at how feudal the whole malay wedding shenanigans actually is. you have the dais, with the very literally Raja Sehari decked in the finest songket and gold looking down over their subjects eating (or for us dayang-dayang and kadam-kadam, cleaning, clearing etc). The Raja Sehari is accorded the honour of not having to lift a single finger for anything that day - they just have to ascend the throne and look pretty. and mighty.

and all the dulang-dulang hantaran is reminiscent of the malay feudal past. you know..how smaller states pay homage to bigger states by sending valuables over. interestingly when i was at Wat Phra Sri Rattana Mahathat Vora-Maha-Vihara in Phitsanulok (that IS the full name i kid you not), there were offerings of gold leaf and silk to Buddha presented in the very same kind of dulangs that we malays use. complete with the same kind of velvety cloth and tassles used to decorate.

interesting.

well, anyway, most girls will agree with me on this - all anak dara dreams of a dream wedding, but when the day's approcahing, most would want to just get it over and done with. too much hassle.

llhan and Husband's got my flu bug. kesian dengar Ilhan tidur terbatuk-batuk and trying to put himself back to sleep.

 

ilhan

P1011269.JPG 2006-05-11

more about caffeine

an update on my caffeine situation.

that day, that caffeine day?

a mini pot of black tea at 9pm kept me up till 8 a.m. that's right. 8 in the morning. same thing with the heartbeat.

it's insane. then again i'm a virgin in this coffee/caffeine world, unthinkable in this Starbucks world.

learnt my lesson. Milo's good.

ahila's back in the rat race, imad's back putting evil people behind bars. did something for suling aka Safa - put her in touch with fareena alam. hope she finds further meaning and purpose in London. Allah loves you, Suling.

it's amazing how life turns out, isn't it. the unexpected catches you by surprise, and that's an understatement. i wonder what is in store.

no actually i don't. come what may.