Welcome 2010

We will be welcoming the new year in this foreign land amongst all the strangers. Its going to be crowded tonight and we dont really know what to expect. Although I know if we are at home things will be a bit different but I am sure there will be the sounds of firecrackers and fireworks into the night tonight.

The night is starting to get busy tonight, lots been going on here in KL. Its noisy and loud, and I am not really used to it all but this is part of the experience. Nothing more nothing less. But we are in good spirit to be in this milestone, a year older a year wiser.

Whats going on now in Brunei? Logging in to Brudirect I saw the news of Era, the Polar Girl has reached the bottom of the earth. The first Bruneian to do that. She is part of the all women Karspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition. Thats another excellent accomplishment for Brunei.

So welcome 2010. I am looking forward to a smooth and uneventful new year. May this new year will bring more peace to the world and more happiness, health and wealth to all of us. May Allah bless us all with His Rahmah and Hidayah, Amin!

Relaxing Time

I am typing this from our hotel room at Jalan Imbi Kuala Lumpur after the trip to Berjaya Times Squares just across the road. We arrived in KL last night on flight AirAsia AK267. Our very first time of flying with AirAsia. We expected some sort of discrepancies from the budget airlines but it was really not so bad. Although the flight was delayed for a little bit, half an hour to be exact but the rest of it was really ok. So we were not dissapointed.

With full stomach we went straight to get a taxi and off to city centre. Oh its a good idea to order food early while during booking because it will be cheaper and guaranteed. We even booked seats so we get good ones. Got everything sorted and checked in our hotel at around 1am in the morning. The trip from LCC Airport to the city centre took less than one hour with the empty road and the "Formula One" taxi driver! You wont believe how fast this taxi driver drove his taxi. He was really fast but we were not upset with him because he was quite friendly and talkative. And without us realising it we reached the hotel at record time. Phew...

So this is going to be short but exciting holiday for us. No plan whatsoever, and surprisingly nothing much going on here as well. Except for the year end sale, there is nothing much really. But we will still be doing a bit of sight seeing and maybe some shopping before home on friday and back to real life. And back to work and school next week!

So till then, KL here we are.

Avatar.

Again my daughter insisted us to see this movie. I didnt know what to make of it. Alien? Out of this world experience? I am so not into this, or so I thought! But I know who the man behind this movie. Its James Cameron, the man responsible for Titanic. And I so LOVED Titanic. So I knew this movie is going to be brilliant. And how true it was. Love Avatar to some extend. I reckon not many of us knew what the movie was all about but I guess Avatar was about human desire to possess power or wealth and overlook other principles like passion or love or inocence and so on. Its about this mission to a so called distant planet called Pandora. I liked it. All 2 hrs and 40 mins of it. I am sure the rest of the audience were too. I like the animation and all the computer images too. Those Na'vi people were impressively tall and majestic. Something new to see and experience. So I didnt regret going!

Phew.. its still holidays time. Tomorrow is our trip to KL Malaysia so this relaxed atmosphere will continue for some time yet. We are almost ready to go, need a bit more packing and we are off.

Happy Holiday everyone!

Holiday mood is in the air! I am sure everyone is excited and in the holiday mood. With xmas and new year around the corner, its only normal to feel the cheery mood and festivities. Work is so down as well, the office is ever so quiet, most people are already away on leave. The best time of year indeed!

On Tuesday night we went to the Empire Hotel to watch the Christmas tree and Christmas lights. Its fun and lots of people there. We don’t celebrate Christmas though but we just want to absorb the surroundings. We went round and round the hotel, love the decorations and the fake snow, its full of colours and gold is one of my favourite. They also sold Christmas cookies such as chocolate brownies, gingerbread man cookies, etc and other stuff. Some pictures below from the night.

Happy but not so.

Cant believe we are actually at the end of 2009, in two weeks time 2010 will be knocking on our door. Wonder what will be in store for us in 2010? Well, I am hoping for the best, and wishing for our life will be more peaceful and calm. May Allah bless upon us with His Rahmah and Hidayah. May all our worldly businesses will run smoothly and may everything that we endeavor will be all fruitful, Insya Allah.

Back to what happened this weekend. We are blessed with 3 days of relaxation and it was really cool. Friday we were busy, but Saturday and Sunday were relaxed time. Although I couldn’t get enough of it. Love the book I am reading at the moment, and I spent almost all hours reading it. Saturday my girl wanted to watch New Moon (again!) she watched it already with her friends early December but it seemed she couldn’t get enough of it yet. She even bought the book from the bookstore so she could still be immensed in it, I supposed. We went to Empire cinema for 2.30pm show. I would expect less audience since its been showing for almost a month already but how wrong I was. There are about 30 people watching it, it seemed the movie is still quite popular. Anyway, I thought the movie was a bit slow, but it was emotional towards the end just because Bella was caught between these 2 characters. So I rated it may be 7/10, that’s not too bad. I didnt ask hubby of what he thought of it, since I am not sure if he enjoyed it or not, haha ;-)

After Asar we went to Indoor Stadium for the year end show case. We were expecting a different kind of bazaar but we were bitterly disappointed. It’s the same old thing, over and over again. Nothing much to see even to buy so its nothing much to report.

Wish the weekend drags on. But I am happy to say I am gonna be away from office next week and fly off to KL for a week. It’s a tradition for us to be away in December, with all the festivities it’s a good time to be away from the office and enjoy the downtime. We wanted to spend some family quality time and witness all the celebrations, esp the Christmas lights and new year activities. So we decided to visit KL, since we haven’t been to KL may be 3 years. So look forward to that.

One thing worrying me is that my girl no longer has transportation to send her to school. Her previous driver decided to stop their bus operations due to some students didn’t pay up their monthly fees. I was really upset with how irresponsible some parents are. If your children need transportation then you go and pay what is due. And because of this, those really needed the bus service no longer able to rely on it because of you irresponsible people. So my task is now to look for other alternatives which seemed so hard to come by. I am really anxious about this, but I am hoping something will come up soon. I just hope 2010 will not begin with a rough start.

Selamat Tahun Baru Hijrah 1431

Doa Akhir Tahun Hijrah,

Cara membaca doa akhir tahun dan awal tahun hijrah
Istigfar 7x, Astagr ‘fi rullah hal a’zim- al lazi la i laa ha iil la- hu wal hai yul qai’ yum wa atu bu ilaih
Baca Surah Al Fatihah
Astagr ‘fi rullah hal a’zim inn nahu kaa na rrof’ faa raa, 21 atau 7 x
Astagr ‘fi rullah hal a’zim inn nahu kaa na taw waa baa, 21 atau 7 x
La ilaa ha illa anta sub’haan na ka inni kuntu minaz zaa li min, 21 atau 7x

Segala pujian itu bagi ALLAH, TUHAN pentadbir Seluruh alam. Rahmat dan sejahtera atas penghulu kami Nabi Muhamad dan atas keluarga dan syahabat2 baginda sekalian.

Ya ALLAH, wahai TUHAN kami, perkara2 yg telah kami lakukan daripada perbuatan2 yg dikau larang dalam tahun ini, maka kami belum bertaubat daripada nya, padahal TUHAN kami TIADA meredha’ie dan TUHAN kami memang tiada lupakannya (TUHAN tiada bersifat lupa) dan TUHAN kami berlembut tiada mengazabkan kami, malah memberi peluang supaya kami bertaubat selepas kami menceburkan diri melakukakn maksiat itu. Maka kami sekalian mohon keampunan mu Ya Allah, Ampun kan lah kami, dan mana2 perbuatan yg telah kami lakukan sepanjang2 tahun ini, yg TUHAN kami meredhainya dan TUHAN kami telah pun menjanjikan ganjaran pahala kerananya, maka kami sekalian mohon Ya ALLAH, TUHAN yg mempunyai kebesaran dan kemulia’an semuga TUHAN kami perkenankan akan perbuatan (amal bakti) yg telah kami lakukan itu dan tidak TUHAN kami menghampakan harapan kami, Ya ALLAH TUHAN yg maha pemurah.

Doa Awal Tahun Hijrah,

Setelah selesai sembahyang fardhu magrib.

Segala pujian itu bagi ALLAH TUHAN pentadbir seluroh alam, rahmat dan sejahetra atas penghulu kami Nabi Muhamad dan atas keluarga dan syahabat2 baginda sekalian.

Ya ALLAH, wahai TUHAN kami, dikaulah jua TUHAN yg kekal selama-lama nya, sedia ada lagi tiada permulaan. Kelebihan mu maha besar dan kemurahan mu amat limpah yg sangat2 diharapkan.

Tibalah sudah tahun baru, kami mohon kepadamu agar terpelihara kami sekalian didalam tahun baru ini daripada tipu daya syaitan yg terlaknat, juga daripada kuncu2 syaitan dan bala tenteranya.

Dan kami mohon daripada mu akan pertolongan mengalahkan runtunan nafsu amarah (nafsu yg mendorong kepada jalan2 kejahatan).

Kami mohon juga kepada mu Ya ALLAH, akan rasa sedia ingin membuat kerja2 kebajikan yg bulih mendampingkan diri kami kepada mu. Ya ALLAH, TUHAN yg maha agung lagi yg maha mulia. Ya ALLAH, TUAHN sebaik2 yg mengurniakan rahmat, barang dicucuri rahmat apalah kiranya Ya ALLAH dan juga sejahtera atas junjungan kami Nabi Muhamad serta keluarga dan syahabat2 baginda sekalian, segala pujian itu bagi ALLAH TUHAN pentadbir seluruh alam.

Al Fatihah

So sad

Being rich doesn’t mean you are happy. Take a look at Tiger Wood. The greatest sportsman of all time and now in turmoil over having affairs with 13 women (and counting!). Such a shame, its all over the news With a beautiful wife and lovely children. What more could a man ask for?

Its all over the news, almost every day. I think its about time the world stop bickering over him. Its his business and private life. So leave it at that. Leave him alone already.

A lonely figure of Elin (Wood’s wife) yesterday.

Woods and family in happier time.

First time!

We drove our Honda Odyssey to work yesterday, for the first time. And it was such a pleasure. The car ran ever so smoothly, and we were at ease all the way. It even has a cruise control where we didnt have to press the pedal and the car cruised along. Our BMW had that but we havent been driving it for a while so we were robbed off that pleasure for a while now and didnt realise how much we missed the cruise control. Love it love it love it.

But we tried not to drive it to KB too often though. We were a little bit concern on the mileage thingy. Afterall it takes almost 200km to and from work and just imagine what that can do to cars! We want to preserve it as much as we can and not to give it too much wear and tear. Afterall we want this car for a long time yet.

Our pet rabbit... One year on!

You all should get a rabbit. I love rabbit although our rabbit does have her own flaws but she is still so cute!

Its been a year since we brought our rabbit home and what a year it has been. Below is the link to my post about bringing home our pet home last year. Look how small she was!

http://mommy-myjourneyasamother.blogspot.com/2008/12/robbie.html

I would rather have a rabbit than a cat. For one, rabbit is so quiet. No noise at all, you hardly know she is there. Rabbit is such a joy to have around the house. Everytime we open her cage, she would jump out and run around the house like crazy, and in the end settle at her favourite spot near our couch. When she was little, she used to jump on our sofa all the time, and deposit her things on it. Oh.. she is now one year 3 months old and been with us a year this month. I don’t want her to jump on the sofa and make a mess so I yelled “No!” and gestured her to jump down so she knew I was angry and she would she jumped down very quickly. She doesn’t do that any more.

Rabbit is so easy to train. Our rabbit is litter trained. She doesn’t go and do her things anywhere but in her cage or her litter box. My girl loves to pick her up and cuddle her. She will lay still or even close her eyes when my girl does that, so cute.

She is easy to look after too. This is how her days are spent with us. We don’t need to bath her and she always keep herself clean (more like a cat, licks her fur all the time). But we do need to trim or clip her nails at least once a month. This can be very tricky most of the time. She doesn’t like her feet to be touched so much. So its hard to hold them in place and clip the nails. It used to be a struggle. But then we found a good way to do this, and I must praise my girl for it. Since our rabbit loves to be cuddled, she enjoys it so much that she even close her eyes and be in a trance for a long time. She can even do that with her legs up in the air. So during this time, my girl will start to clip her nails with her special clippers and waalaa…. Its done!

She doesn’t go out of he cage so much when we are at work or when our girl is at school. But my girl always make sure she goes out of her cage every night while my girl cleans her cage. This is the best time for her, she jumps out and does her binky and look so cute and cuddly. (oh.. binky is when she jumps in the air and twist her body in mid air, meaning she is happy!)

We give her meals twice a day. In the morning she gets to have her pellets, dry food from the pet shop and also her hay. At night she usually get at least 2 types of vegetables. We don’t give her fruits so much since most fruits are sweet and sugary and its not good for her health. But she does get it occasionally.

Her only shortcoming is that she doesn’t want to do anything we want her to do. Like teach her some tricks or skills. She is simply not interested LOL!!! But she is still such a cute little feline.

So there.. we would like to have more rabbits at home, since one is so lonely. But we need to figure out where to keep them. At the moment, our rabbit is living in our living room!

Hope you enjoy pictures of our rabbit, oh,.. by the way her name is Robbie. Isnt she cute?

My guitar girl.

I think I just want to post about my girl with her guitar today. She is excited big time and practiced every day as advised by the music teacher. Cant wait for her to be able to read the notes and chords and sing me a song!

Aidil Adha Open House

Pictures taken by hubby during our open house Aidil Adha celebration 28th Nov 2009.

Guitar lesson

My girl has started her guitar lesson yesterday. Earlier in the day, we went to the music school to sort out her guitar as recommended by the teacher. She would like to learn pop music and not classical music so there is a guitar for that. So lucky that we didnt buy one earlier since we really didn’t know anything about this.

There was this music shop in KB where we stumbled upon during lunch which has guitars with different colours except purple. No purple guitar around I am afraid. But it was really great to see those colourful guitars, and they were cheap too only around B$70. I almost bought one for her. Almost! if not stopped by hubby. He told me we needed to check with Ayang first on what colours she wanted so we ended up not buying.

Then yesterday, the teacher told us, those cheap guitars wouldn’t last and they will hurt your finger tips easily. Especially for beginners like my girl. And added we should choose the guitar wisely and not be tempted with the cheap ones. Ohhh… ok, we were so not knowing anything about it, again. So we then bought one for Ayang looked like this, with a cover and some guitar books for her lesson.

So its all started. She started her lesson yesterday. She was excited big time but already complained she was given homeworks to do, lol. So there you go. If you want to learn that’s what you have to do.

My Rant

Here is the thing. I insisted and persuaded hubby on having a new registration number for our new car and get the process started. We did this before with our BMW but it’s a long time ago so I couldn’t remember the hassle. I think my brother helped us too to sort it out so it was really not that bad. At least I don’t have a bad memory of it.

So the process started off about a month ago. Its not straight forward I tell you, there are so many procedures to go through.

Firstly, we went every week to JPD to see if the new wanted number was already on tender until the day came,when it did we just went for it. We spent B$125 for us to get it, B$100 for the tender and B$25 for the registration. Happy that was out of the way. Next we waited a few days to get that sorted, once that’s done, next step, wait for a letter from JPD to say they have no problem of us changing to the new number. This took 2 weeks. Just to get that letter. I am still being patient, and I am not so surprise with things takes so long to get done here.

Got the letter last Saturday. We were asked to bring the letter to the Financing Bank where the Hire Purchase Agreement is. The Bank will then produce another letter to say they have no problem for us to have the new number. The letter was done in about 5 minutes and it costed us B$100!!! WTF?? I was almost slipped off my seat. How could that be so expensive? B$100 for one piece of paper which was processed within 5 minutes? I asked the lady why it was so expensive. She just shrugged her shoulder and said its for their processing fee. What processing fee? To print one lousy standard letter from their printer and got it signed by whoever is their boss in 5 minutes??

Tell me what you guys think? Afterall, this is a local Bank and should support the local people, at least lessen the burden. But hey.. I don’t know whats the agenda here but it was really ridiculous to be charged B$100 for that letter. I was really pissed beyond words. I don’t know how much other banks charge for this though. Pls enlighten me, people!

But there was no turning back, I have to part with my hard earned cash, with a broken and heavy heart. My God. I was still determined and off I went back to JPD and they charged me another B$65 for the change of number, again. So it really was beyond any sane comprehension to pay all these money for such a simple matter.

Well.. this is not over yet. We haven’t got our number on the car yet. So there sure it more to come. Next week. We will bring the car to JPD with the new number get it inspected, (for what??? Its a brand new one month old car for God’s sake) and then its done. And I am bracing myself for more payment next week.

So here is what I spent to get this new number. And its is just a common number nobody wants. I wonder how much would I have to spend it its a nicer number, like 5555 or 8888. It will be double ridiculous.

Tender & Registration : B$125
Letter from Finance Bank : B$100
Register new number : B$65
So for now we have spent : B$290, minus next week.

So that’s it people. Can someone from Baiduri answer this for me please?

December!

Where did all the time go? Anyway, nobody could stop the time from flying by, could we? So be it. The best part of this month is that, less traffic on the road due to the school holiday! And cant wait to go for our vacation end of the month.

Alhamdulilah

Aidil Adha celebration is over. The day started by going to the fish market to get some fresh fish for me to cook. Then we went to my brother’s house for an open house and spent less than one hour over there, had lunch although I ate so little. Cant eat much since my mind was wandering non stop and what to cook first, what to cook last, etc the whole time I was there. Went home right away since I had to prepare food to cook for the night’s dinner. I ended up spending 4 hours in the kitchen doing the cooking of 7 dishes including the plain rice, all by myself. I was tired and beat, all was done at around 6pm, everyone said how good they were and I think its well worth it. We had a great dinner, my SIL and my mom bought other snacks to munch on so it was really a lot to take in one night. We have some photos taken but there was something wrong with the pics so no go for now.

My girl will enroll at Contessa Music School this weekend. She is interested to learn to play a guitar, and so keen. I can see her eyes brightened up and full smile on her lips when we said yes. We are supportive of her interest of course and willing to send her to this school. So she will start on 6th Dec as her first class, Insya Allah. She is very excited and I am pleasantly surprise of her sudden inclination to play a guitar. I know she loves music and spend hours and hours on her computer looking at music websites or the MTV. She loves instruments too. She used to play the flute then organ/piano but guitar is something new.

She told me her dream was for her to play guitar and sing on stage. She said she was ok being on stage and she has done quite ok when talking for an audience. In fact she has done that a few times during school presentations so that’s good to know. I think for now she is just entering into her own element of music, which line of music she is interested in so hopefully by sending her to this music school she will achieve her dreams and be a good guitar player.