The last day of October 2013

Assalamualaikum and good morning kawan-kawan.

Pejam celik, pejam celik, we are now on the last day of October 2013. This means, we have exactly 2 months to go before bidding farewell to 2013. And for some unknown reasons, I am so excited and looking forward to 2014, InsyaAllah.

So, how was your 2013 so far? I can say that mine wasn't as good as last year's but Alhamdulillah for rezki, diberikan kehidupan, dilimpahkan kasih sayang and dikurniakan orang-orang yang disayangi.

I started my morning (as early as 5am) with completing my work and I have back-to-back meeting and training to attend today. So, wish me luck!

Semoga hari kita hari ini dilimpahi dengan penuh keceriaan.

Have a nice day peeps and enjoy the last day of October.

Wordless Wednesday

Ibu misses you girl!

Chopstix Uptown

I noticed their signboard few months back but I never have the guts to go to their restaurant because 

1. I'm not sure if it's Halal
2. I'm positively sure that it's one of those Chinese Baba-Nyonya restaurant hence refer to No. 1

Last week, my colleague suggested that we have our lunch at Chopstix. I was hesitant at first but kalau kita tak pergi kita tak tahu kan. Since it's just few minutes away from my office, so why not!

Good news is although they are not certified Halal but they are Pork-free. This could probably be because they sell liquor, I'm not sure but yea, it's good and safe to eat for Muslims.

Their wall. Can conteng-conteng

I had their Curry Laksa and it taste good. It can be improved though. I give 3.5 out of 5.

My Curry Laksa

According to my colleague, this Asam Laksa was good.

Chicken Lobak.

Menu written on the wall

The prices are reasonable and they serve quite a tasteful laksa. I had their Thai Drumstick Curry Chicken the other day. It was so-so only but the Nyonya Curry Asam Laksa was very very good.

They open daily from morning to night (I think!) and they are on facebook too. So, check them out!

For those who work/stay nearby, this is a place for you to check on. They are at the same row of Village Park, right next the the kedai mamak.

Sydney Day 2

Hai, bila nak habis my Sydney chronicle ni. I just remembered that I haven't completed my Sydney story. So here's to day 2.

Our second day was spent on 1 location only. A walk to The Royal Botanical Garden. Yes, you read it right. We had a day walk at a park. We covered every area - South, East, West & North, you name it. But before we made the visit, we visited the most popular place in Sydney - The Opera House of course.

We started our day quite late as we waited the lil princess to wake up. She just loved the weather she decided to sleep more than 12 hours that night.

It's going to be a post full of photos. Senang sikit tak banyak cerita nak celoteh.

Our daily transportation - the ferry at Double Bay to Circular Quay station

Opera House from the ferry

All 5 of us in front of Opera House

We passed by the Parliament House on our way to the park. We wanted to visit the Parliament House but unfortunately, there was an event happening on that day. Tak ada rezeki kami.

In front of the Parliament House

And so, our walk to the park begins.

The herbs garden

The roses at the park. Masyaallah, cantik sungguh

Huge palm trees. Iman tengah syiok tidur

Sakura trees

Mommy and the tulips. They were so nice

The Botanical Garden and its view. Magnificent 

The view from the hill top - the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge

That's summarized up our day 2. Balik dah ngam-ngam pkol 6 and it's already dark. Balik dengan keadaan yang patah kaki tak sangga. We spent 3 hours walking at the park. Never have I walked that long at a park in my life but I did it in Sydney, bravo!!

Shall continue with day 3 soon.

Recap on Sydney Day 1

A Mother, Student & Senior Planner

My days have been tougher each day but having said that, I am forever thankful for the rezki, the opportunity to shine in my career (chewahhh, statement tak boleh blah!), and to challenge myself completing my Masters. Yes, I shouldn't be complaining sebab ini semua, sendiri yang cari pasal but yeah, with all of these commitments, I, at some point think that I have neglected the one person that I shouldn't be neglecting - Iman Alexandria.

Last Wednesday, she had an eye infection. Tak tahu dari mana datang, bangun tidur tengok her left eye jadi redish in color. I panicked but I seriously, I can't send her to the hospital as I just got back from a week of medical leave due to the tooth surgery and I had a long list of meetings to attend to that whole week. I asked my mother for her help to send Iman to the hospital and Alhamdulillah, she's all fine now. Ini situasi no.1.

Situasi no. 2 happened also on that same week of her eye infection. I had to leave for work early that week. Iman was still asleep when I left the house. And by the time I reached home, she was already asleep. It hits me like a thunder when that situation happened and I cried while carrying her to bed.

And I started to question myself - what type of mother I am for leaving my daughter with her nanny all day long and not being around her. I started to feel like I am a bad mother. Am I a bad mother?

Maybe I should reconsider my options. Maybe I should take that lecturer scheme so that I can spend more time my my family. Maybe I should.......

Saturday, Class & coffee

And because of the guilt I have for neglecting my daughter, I decided that I really need to balance my work, study and family life. Hence, although my weeks are occupied with work and studies, I will make sure that I spend some quality time with my lil' girl.

We went to KLCC park yesterday and girl, was she happy. Walaupun sekejap sebab weather yang main-main hujan tapi within that short time at the park dah cukup buat Iman bergolek-golek sampai seluar kotor. And I will make sure that my weekends are all spend with her, Insya Allah.

The guilty of a mother. Sigh!

China House

The highlight of my Saturday visits to Penang, apart from my first experience of giving lecture to 15 Mass Comm students was the activity I had after that with the bunch of funny-entertaining Mass Comm students.

I was picked by two of these super generous-funny-interesting third year students at the airport and they also were the responsible ones to send me back to the airport along with driving my lecturer and I to Penang town for lunch. Yus and Kamal were very nice and helpful and I must say, their hospitality memang tip-top.

I don't even spend a single cent on this trip as everything was covered by my lecturer - from the breakfast upon my arrival to lunch and the coffee session we had after that. Minyak pon di tanggung beb! Rasa bersalah sungguh but anyway, syukur atas pemberianNya.

I had the best breakfast at Sardon having nescafe panas and roti jala. Memang dah lama mengidam and I finally got the chance to visit this very happening place for breakfast during my short visit to Penang. Takda gambar sebab malu lah depan students kan but yea, it was fun!

After the class, we headed to town for lunch - to the original Kapitan restaurant located at the centre of Penang road, which I had their best served Nasi Beriyani Ayam. Gambar tak ada to justify but oh my, I've finally fulfilled my craving.

Penang's Little India

After lunch, we headed straight to this super nice-cozy coffee house which I fall in-love the moment I step my foot at the place.

This is the main entrance of China House

This cafe is located at Victoria Street near the Port Weld entrance. It was build on a old Chinese building, own by a Mat Salleh lady. 

The wall of the cafe

The open-air concept for customers to have their servings right at the middle of the cafe

The walk-away. A cool concept. I love so much!

And what I love so much about this place was the desserts that they served. My goodness. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to taste the cakes as I just had a large bowl of Nasi Beriyani Ayam but I will definitely go back to this cafe and taste all of their cakes again someday.

Table full of cakes 1

Table full of cakes 2

And of course, the taste of their caffe latte was superbly delicious. The coffee taste perfectly good, oh my!!

My Caffe latte

All cakes are between RM10 - RM12 per slice and they serve quite a big slice for the cake. They serve variety of cakes, my goodness, my sliver is literally on the table as I type this and they are all baked freshly by the chef.

This is a must place to visit if you are in Penang. It has the perfect ambience, the perfect servings, a good coffee and they have a Wine room for their customers to enjoy their drinks at the most comfortable way.

I will visit this place again, Insya Allah.

1st time experience as a Lecturer

Last month, I received an invitation from one of my Master's lecturer to be the guest lecturer for her class. Her topic was on Media Planning and she wanted someone from the industry to give a lecture based on industry practices. She wanted to expose her students on the real practices of Media Planners and for that, she invited me to be her guest lecturer.

And of course, without thinking much, I agreed to her invitation. She gave me the topic that she wanted me to talk about and that I prepare the slide show for the class.

Well, this is actually one way of me saying indirectly to the lecturer that I am up if they would like to offer me to be a part-time lecturer. I have raised this concern to my other lecturer, but according to her, USM did not have such program hence they can't offer me such position. Oh, I forgot to mention that this teaching is for the third year students of Mass Communication faculty.

Cara halus gitu. Well, this is one of my way of giving back to the society, chewahh!. I'm not saying that with 5 years experience as a Media Planner has qualified me to teach the students but this is actually me sharing the knowledge that I gained through my working experience to the students. I am still young and fresh and there are a lot of things that I still need to learn but that doesn't mean that I can't share with other people on what I have, right? After all, sharing is caring. 

The thing is, there are a few of Malay working in this industry. Most of them prefer to be in the PR sector. Kononnya, PR lebih glamor but what they don't know is that there are a lot of things that one can learn (and of course, glamorous is not part of it) if one enrol in this industry. I guess, I'm being biased because I am clearly a Media person but yes, as biased as I may sound, this industry serves interesting knowledge and there are a lot of things that one can learn from it. 

So, my mission is indirectly to build these students' interest into Media instead of PR.

So, off I went yesterday to USM, Penang to teach 15 Mass Comm students on the basic knowledge of Media Planning and I must say that I like it. The kind of response that I received yesterday was marvellous. Being a nervous me, I thought I can't deliver the lecture considering the fact that I just had a tooth surgery couple of days before and Alhamdulillah, Allah Maha Mengetahui, I did not face any difficulty while delivering the lecture and in fact, I was pain-less that day, Syukur alhamdulillah.

I didn't get the chance to take the picture while the class was full but yea, that was how the classroom looks like.

I must say that it was indeed a good experience. I don't mind if I have to go there every week to give a lecture. In fact, I once dream of being a lecturer cuma tak cukup pandai je nak ke tahap itu. This actually opens up my eyes that maybe, just maybe, I should reconsider my offer.

Maybe, who knows, someday I may pursue with PhD and be a lecturer instead of a Media Specialist. Doa-doalah kan ye!

Not so wisdom..... tooth

A week ago, I experienced a very bad toothache. By this, I know that my wisdom tooth is "growing" hence the pain. In fact, I have been experiencing the pain for the longest time but I never bother to do anything about it as the pain is still bearable. 

I went for an x-ray donkey years ago to check on my wisdom tooth. Apparently, both sides of my wisdom tooth grow horizontally and they are growing inside the gum. So, I will be experiencing the pain as they grow - which I did.

But last week was the worst. I can't even eat, can't even open my mouth to talk. So, I decided to make a visit to the dentist. As much I as hate visiting the dentist, I really have no choice as the pain has caused me so much trouble. The left tooth area was swollen and the size of the swollen was as big as a 10 cents coin (as what being said by the dentist) hence I agreed for an operation. They gave me few antibiotics and my gosh, it caused me nausea. But after few days, the swollen subside and I'm off for the operation which happened yesterday

Seriously, I wasn't ready for this. I was telling everyone how scared I was to do this surgery. I convinced myself that if I can survived 4 hours of labour pain, I should be able to survive this one too. But god, I was WRONG!

My body shivered the moment I sat on the chair in the operation room. 

The dentist made a quick check on my tooth and immediately, she prep herself wearing a blue color surgery coat. After she put the anaesthetic jap on me, I can barely feel my mouth and all I see was the huge instruments that the doctor prepared on the table next to me. I feel like running out from the operation room, but I guess it was too late. I closed my eyes the moment I saw the light on top of me and pray that everything's going to be fine.

The first thing that I heard was the drilling sound from a big instrument, then comes the smaller sound of drilling and my heart was poundering hard. I can feel the energy that the doctor put on to pull out my tooth. Oh, I have a very stubborn wisdom tooth. And at one point, I think she korek my tooth out. And finally, I opened my eyes when I heard the doctor said "dah" which again, I was wrong.

She managed to pull my huge healthy wisdom tooth out. She was on her way to jahit the effected area when I suddenly open my eyes and I saw that huge black benang going in and out from my mouth. Boleh rasa macam doctor tu tengah mengait dalam mulut. And tears started to fall down from my eyes. The one thing that I regret doing - agreeing on this procedures. 

Alhamdulillah, everything went well. I was still on the anaesthetic when I left the dentist. I even made few phone calls after few hours of the surgery. I started to feel the pain at 2-ish pm, and the pain, Masyaallah tuhan saja yang tahu. It was 100x painful than my post-natal surgery. I have never cried so much as I did yesterday due to the pain. This is a no-joke kind of pain.

The doctor actually suggested that I do the same procedure for my right tooth which I totally disagree. I will never step foot in a dentist ever again. I would rather give birth to another child than having to pull my tooth out. Like I said, this is one thing that I regret the most. 

The pain is crazy even after 48 hours of surgery. Having to face it all by myself doesn't help much either. My face is still swollen. I can't eat (which made me hungry all the time) and it's painful, Ya Allah sakit sangat.

This is totally a worst nightmare for me. Never to cabut gigi ever again. NEVER!

AidilAdha lunch menu

Salam to all my muslim brothers and sisters. How was your AidilAdha? And I'm sure my non-Muslim friends were enjoying their 1 day public holiday yesterday.

Anyway, I actually drafted a post on Qurban and what it means to me but I guess I'll post it up later as I would love to share the lunch menu we had yesterday for the family first, heeeeee.

As usual, my mother the chef prepared the scrumptious food and I, tolong sikit-sikit je. We had Nasi Tomato ala-Maklang as what called by the lil cousins.

The below picture was the first step of preparing the kari dalca, the top left is the nasi tomato and top right is the fried chicken. 

And after hours of fighting in the kitchen,

Voila! Nasi tomato was served on AidilAdha.

I had a fun family time during AidilAdha. I was busy the whole of last week hence I took the opportunity to spend this 1 day with the family, especially with lil Iman. This was also her first nasi tomato - out of her ordinary nasi separa lembek and she loved it, yey!

And it's good to know that everyone had it more than just a plate.

Sydney Day 1

Finally, tersampai juga hajat nak tulis on my September family holiday to Sydney. Believe it or not, I am here in my class hearing my lecturer lecturing in front of the class on one end while on the other end, writing about my holiday. Sungguh inappropriate. 

Anyway, we went for a 6 days 5 nights stay with the parents, kakak and lil Iman. The husband decided not to follow us sebab dia kata "Sydney is not my place". So yeay, he was left behind alone looking after the house. We went on our own - didn't attached with any of the tour agency. Thanks to my sister for doing all the research and preparing our itinerary. My duty was just to get them the air tickets which ended up having so much problem. Note to self - I will never fly with AirAsia again. OK, itu cerita lain.

So anyway, we started our journey taking the night flight to Sydney via Air Asia. It was a loonnnnnngggg 8 hours flight but Alhamdulillah, Iman slept throughout the whole journey. Kalau tak, imagine the hustle I have to go through. I forced myself to sleep during the journey else, I pon akan meroyan dalam flight. Don't want to complain much about it sebab we were the one yang nak naik Air Asia. 

Enough on Air Asia story, we safely landed at Sydney International Airport half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. Landed around 9.30am Sydney time on a Thursday morning. One of our fear was not being able to get out from the immigration checkout clean. With all the instant food the we brought along during the trip sungguh merisaukan. Just to be safe, we decided to declare everything. Alhamdulillah, we were let go free dengan mudahnya. I believe this is all because of Iman. Everything is labelled under baby food hence the immigration officers let us go with no extensional check-up. Risau ok knowing that Australian immigration department yang sungguh super strict but Alhamdulilah!

We got the MPV taxi right at the arrival exit and we went straight to our apartment. We stayed at Medina Apartment, Double Bay. Thanks again to my efficient kakak who made the bookings. She was the one doing all the research. In fact, our first option was to stay at Malaysia Hall tapi sebab dah full we decided to go for this apartment. Ada hikmahnya.

Our apartment.

This is our neighbouring area.

The neighbouring area - our usual walk to the nearby grocery shop

The view from our living room.

And of course, the lil girl is enjoying herself walking barefooted on a cold weather.

We safely arrived our apartment at 12 noon and Masyaallah, the weather was wonderful. Bright, windy and cooling. Our apartment was located at Double Bay, 5 minutes walk to the nearest Double Bay ferry station. It's a housing area and the place was peaceful. Tenang sangat.

Due to the long hours of journey we had earlier, we decided not to go anywhere that day. After we settled down, semua pengsan. By the time we woke up dah pukol 5.30pm (Sydney time) and by 6.00pm it was already dark outside. No point pon nak keluar.

Our jalan-jalan starts the next day which I will write soon.

Throwback Thursday, eh Friday

Ohh how I miss blogging. I have not being actively blogging for the past 1 month (since the day Semester 3 started actually.) My life has been rolling up and down like a roller coaster rushing for work and assignments. No fun at all. I think I'm loosing myself bit by bit.

Anyway, I am supposed to be on MC today. Wisdom tooth problem. Whatever that means. But, here I am taking this opportunity to write on my precious blog. Chewah!

Very random image appeared in my head yesterday night while driving back from work. The images of my beloved bestfriends and the fun we had during our short weekend gateway to Penang. This was on 2009 and our main objective of the gateway was to attend a friend's wedding.

It was one of the happiest weekend I have had so far. There were only us and us only.

Since we just started our working life, we stayed at Vistana Hotel as Zarina is under the category of Government Servant hence we were entitled for a discounted room price. We jalan-jalan around Penang, had the best time of our life experiencing Penang on our own. Not on our own actually, I stayed in Penang for 7 years remember?! So basically, I was the tour person then.

My point is, I miss being fun and free. Being able to have this short gateway really meant a lot to me. By this, does not mean that having a family of my own does not permit me to still being fun and free. Just that it does not feel the same anymore. 

The fun and free being an adult means being able to coop with the responsibility - being able to feed your children, to give them the love that they need, to be able to make them smile and being able to be the best for your family.

I am not complaining. In fact, I am very much thankful for what I have now. A family to be called my own. I am thankful to have the opportunity to spend it with my friends as well. I'm thankful and lucky to have them in my life. 

Reminiscing the good ol' days reminding me that I shouldn't complain much about life. I am fortunate for being able to experience being fun and free with my family and friends - those who matter the most to me. This is the good life that I should embrace and stop asking for more (ooppsss!).

We are human and we are the greedy type of human. We tend to ask things that we already have. Being ungrateful, that's the word! And I should stop being a greedy person.

Take a step backwards my friend and start reminiscing your good ol' days. And you'll know how good it feels.

Have a nice weekend friends and remember to be thankful all the time.

SuperMom. I don't think so!

Often I received a remark of the say how Supermom I am in juggling work, study & family at the same time. Honestly, I don't deserve such remark. Things have been rough on me. Slowly, I feel like falling down.

I can sense that my work progress is not progressive at all. I keep on doing the smallest mistakes one could have done. Being in a senior position, I shouldn't be doing those little little mistakes. Being a human, we do make mistakes but this, I can't even forgive myself. I feel so ashamed of myself. So ashamed!

Study tak payah cakaplah. With the lines of deadlines that I have right now, seriously I'm not sure if I can coop with it or not. 

Most of all, the thought of not delivering well to my daughter breaks my heart even worst. I keep on having this feeling that I do not give enough attention to my daughter which I think is very true. I leave home for work at 8am every morning and reach home at 9pm. And that little time I have before Iman goes to bed is the only time I have spent with her. Kesian Iman. I really kesian my daughter and that has caused me numerous of times crying myself before sleep.

My worst fear is that I'm scared that because of me working hard towards achieving my dreams will effect my daughter's development. I should stop comparing my daughter with others. I should stop doing that.

Clearly, my confident level is nowhere to be seen. Iman has been acting weirdly this few couple of days and I don't blame her. She needs the attention but I was not there to give it to her. I'm at fault.

I try to be the best mother, but I guess I have failed in the responsibility.