Keluarga di sana sini...

Weekend kali ni sibuk dengan hal keluarga...

Dekat kul 10.00 pagi kami bertolak ke Alor Gajah memenuhi jemputan keluarga di sana.

Makcik aku kawin. Panggil makcik pun ikut pangkat jer, jauh lagi muda dari aku sebenarnye...

Ni mak dia, Nek Ngah aku. Cukup liat nak amik gambo dia! Dah tu macam ada deria keenam lak- time orang elok-elok nak amik gambo jer terus dia kalih... :P

Meriah gak majlis, siap ada YB datang sume...

Lepas tu terus ke Port Dickson lak for a different sort of 'family' gathering. Ape lagi, Hari Keluarga Jabatan aku ler...

Acara dimulakan dengan poco-poco yang selayaknye aku panggil tarian cacamarba aje... Keras kejung sungguh bebudak jabatan aku ni ropanyer!

Ada gak event untuk budak kecik- antaranye tiup belon paling beso dan lumba lari dalam air.

Lepas tu baru lak game untuk mak pak budak! Dimulakan dengan Terompah Gergasi!

Charlie Chaplin- ish, hazab tul berlumba camni tau! Kena pakai sarong, topi, pegang payung... Dah tu kena kepit bola celah kangkang lagi!

Phua Chu Kang pun ade! Ko pakai ler but tu, gi masuk swimming pool kumpul air dalam but pas tu tuang air kat but tu dalam besen. Paras air dalam besen paling tinggi menang...

Lepas tu lumba naik pelampung gajah lak! Macam-macam tul akal manusia ni kalau nak pedajal orang kan?

Ada lagi 2-3 event yang aku tak dapat shoot... sebab aku pun kena pedajal gak!!! :P

Malamnye, dinner! Sebagaimana korang nampak alas meja tu, tema malam tu adalah 'Batik & Kontemporari'...

Makan malam (yang agak mengecewakan dari segi kualiti dan kepelbagaian) diselang-seli beberapa acara lagi- ni musical chairs untuk bebudak...

Ada pertandingan karaoke dan lucky draw. Beriya brader ni tarik lagu 'Lamunan Terhenti'- sedap bole tahan...

Orang tua pun tak mo kalah ni, ikut main musical chairs!

Lewat majlis selesai, dekat 11.30 malam camtu. Ada sampai tersengguk menunggukan habis...

Ciannn dia... Dapat tido kat riba mak pun jadi lar...

Esok paginye sarapan! Adeh... tetap kureng ler juadah yang dihidang...

Walaupun cukup syukur dapat makan, namun kurang berbaloi dengan harga yang dibayar. Salah sorang member keja aku yang biasa buat part time sebagai waiter pun perasan gak segala kekurangan dan dok bising komplen tak sudah!

Aku rasa puncanye sebab banyak sangat orang buat event serentak kali ni. Kalau tak silap congak, ada dalam 3-4 lagi event selain kami!

Ni anak Melayu tengah makan sarapan...

Ni lak anak mat salleh mana ntah... :P

Lepas sarapan tu free and easy. Ikut suka ler nak buat pe pun!

Ada yang ronda-ronda keliling resort naik beskal...

...tapi tarikan utama tetap ler kolam renang dia yang luas dan pelbagai tu!

Untuk dewasa ada, untuk budak ada, untuk orang yang adventurous pun siap ada water slide bagai. Cuma tak ler segrand A' Famosa ke, Desa Waterpark ke (kan Abang Apai, kan?)...

Sebelum menutup entry, seperti tahun lepas, aku nak highlight buah hati aku yang sorang ni- Syukri!

Syukri ni anak member keja aku. Langsung takde kaitan dengan aku tapi ni ler antara 'anak buah' faveret aku.

Comelnyer!!! Ish, nanti panjang umo insyaAllah, Raya ler baru dapat jupe dia semula... :'(

Exercising my lens...

After spending half a day stock taking last Saturday, I decided to blow off some steam at the Secret Garden, 1 Utama.

Which means... lagi-lagi gambo takde makne buat tatapan korang!!! Muahaha!

Admission is free but you need to get a pass from the Ground Floor Information Counter at High Street. This ensures that only a maximum of a 100 pax can clog up the place at any one hour.

You can smell the green as well as the subtle fragrances of the blooms upon arrival at the Upper Roof elevator lobby.

Other than relax, this visit allowed me to practice adjusting my shots manually. I really need to learn to make split second adjustments based on surrounding conditions.

Otherwise I'll be too dependent on the cam's auto function and not dare take that next step- buying one of those RM3k plus DSLR cameras.

It's really tough though. This time, I've fixed the lens opening to the smallest available value while concentrating on playing with the exposure time and focus.

In my opinion, a good shot is one where we, as the photographer, are satisfied with the result as is. No editing needed whatsoever.

A viewer's opinion is secondary as there's no way we can satisfy everyone. But if the image you captured manage to evoke some sort of emotion from most of the observers, that's a bonus :)

Another challenge is capturing the unusual in the ordinary.

Take these bunga raya for example. They are common, common, common (what with it being the national flower and all...). So how to shoot it in a way that make us sit up and take notice?

As you can see, I failed here. They look just like any other bunga raya. Well, better luck next time :P

And luck does play a big part in a shot. The light falling on a subject a certain way, a hat being blown away by the wind, a bird landing and cleaning it's feathers by a shallow pool...

All are chance!

So it's up to us, who love taking pictures, to capture that moment that would otherwise pass unnoticed by others...

Have you been good lately?

Apparently, someone thought so...

Therefore several colleagues and I were invited to this grand dinner as a 'thank you' from the administration :)

It was held at the above convention centre.

I've been here before and have liked the feel as well as the look of this ballroom ever since.

The most important event, in my opinion :P

Food was delicious!

The recipients numbered near to 300! To expedite the cert giving ceremony, we were asked to line up in alphabetical order...

That's a wrap! It's great that despite having to start 45 minutes later than scheduled (oh, i'm singin' the VVIP blues...), the committee manage to conclude the ceremony by 11.15 p.m.

I would like to congratulate them for doing such a fine job in organizing this huge event!

Property watch...

It was my turn to work 24-7 this week...

Despite that, I managed to finish by 1.00 p.m. on Sunday...

...to accompany my parents to a discussion about developing this piece of land in Sungai Merab that Pa bought a while ago.

It was just a preliminary meeting, but all the land owners present agreed that the compensation offered is less than what they are due.

We'll wait and see what the developer's counter proposal will be...

Then we went to sign off on another bit of property Pa is interested in. PKNS is constructing a luxury apartment complex in Section 15, Shah Alam.

Picture shows where the apartment building (marked by that extraordinarily large yellow pin!) will be in relation to Masjid Biru.

And circled in red is the apartment that Pa decided to buy.

You probably can guess somewhat that Pa is big believer in property. He was a civil engineer and very knowledgeable about such things.

Pa said that property value will always rise unlike that of a car so we will always be on the winning side.

Damn! I sure hope I'll be able to cope with all this responsibility later...

Kenduri, kenduri, kenduri..!

Another hectic weekend!

3 member 'pakat' buat kenduri hari yang sama. Abang Jenul lak kena balik kampung, suh Nazir dan aku jadi wakil...

Seperti biasa, kalau trip jejauh ni, tak koser aku nak merempit- sanggup belanja lebih naik public transport atau mengharapkan ihsan kenderaan orang...

First stop: Putrajaya

Punye ler lama aku janji nak datang tengok 'anak buah' aku sorang ni. Comel kan anak si Nazir ni? Mukri namanye...

Untuk jenjalan kali ni, aku mengharapkan belas ihsan si Nazir.

AlhamduliLlah, Nazir sekeluarga ni sangat sporting, termasuk ler si Mukri yang baru 3 bulan tu- 'hok' tidak, 'hek' tidak... cuma start menggelisah dan naik merah muka time kepanasan. Dapat air-cond keta jer okey balik, hehe...

Mula-mula gi majlis yang terdekat, area Putrajaya gak.

Khail ni lebih rapat dengan Abang Jenul, kami kawan gitu-gitu jer tapi dah abang amanahkan, kami pun gi ler...

Grand tul kalau polis kawin ek? Siap tabik hormat bagai time sanding. Dengan diiringi alunan bagpipe oleh pancaragam polis, si Khail dan bini potong kek pakai pedang oo...

Lepas tu berkejar ke Beranang lak- kenduri Faiez dan Fin.

Rasa ralat gak sebab lewat sampai, dekat kul 3.00 petang camtu. Tak dapat amik gambo diorang sanding :(

Faiez dengan Fin ni very sweet and photogenic couple so rugi peluang nak tambah portfolio.

Rumah terakhir kat Klang.

Huhu... first time aku gi umah orang kawin lewat camni- orang sume siap-siap nak kemas dah!

Tak sempat jumpa raja sehari, jumpa orang kebanyakan suami isteri sajork..! Sori lar ye, Lan! Janji kami datang gak kan? ;)

Pas tu Nazir hantar aku balik umah. Akhirnye dapat gak dia jejak kaki ke teratak buruk kami. Jamu diorang makan malam skit sebelum diorang bertolak pulang ke Putrajaya.

Sepanjang-panjang tu, Mukri releeekkk jer... suka lar baby macam Mukri ni. Untung Nazir dengan Ana :)

Esoknya teman Pak gi mesyuarat koperasi lak...

Pendaftaran sekarang lembab skit, leceh daripada dulu sebab diorang nak terus key in masuk duit untuk kehadiran :P

Kali ni penuh betul lar... Biasa most datang untuk kehadiran jer. Lepas perasmian cau cincau! Mebbe sebab nak bincang undang-undang koperasi baru agaknye...

Dan kali ni, alhamduliLlah, awal habisnye- kul 1.20 petang dah habis. Biasa tu sampai 2.30 petang!

Padatnya hujung minggu...

Fuh! Padat tul aktiviti hujung minggu lepas!

Hampir tengahari, penuhi jemputan seorang member ke majlis kawin kakaknyer di Pantai Hill Park.

Lepas tu berkejar ke kelas piano kat Bandar Utama. Sempat lak berenti minum ice blended dark chocolate dan bayar bil kat pejabat pos.

Balik umah jer Nek Ngah pun sampai, nak menjemput kenduri kawin anak dia ujung bulan ni. Aku lepak jap jer sebab nak kena bersiap gi Salak.

Ada apa dengan Salak, ko tanye? Haaa... Abang Imam baru pindah umah ujung tahun lepas. Jadi kita dapat permission Mak Pak untuk overnight atas jemputan abang sendiri :)

Happy tak terkata weh!!! Antara prinsip utama Mak Pak aku adalah seboleh-bolehnyer jangan bermalam di rumah orang. Ni rezki umah baru lar kiranyer...

Gambo takde makne atas tu masa tengah layan sunset kat Stesen ERL Salak Tinggi sementara tunggu abang dan family jemput on the way balik dari kenduri kawin.

Masa tanye abang umah jenis ape beli, dia jawab, "Alaaa... umah teres jer..."

Tapi bila sampai- nah, amek ko!!! Punye ler beso umah dia! Style macam rumah tahun 80an dulu.

Ruang dalamnyer pun menarik! Kalau ikut bajet, murah jer sebab abang ada contact yang tau macam-macam jenis finishing yang cantik serta tahan tapi dengan rega yang sangat okey...

Atas sebab-sebab yang tak dapat dielakkan, dapur baru takkan berasap untuk sementara waktu. Kaedahnyer dinner kat luar ler malam tu ;)

Nama restoran tu Amy Redland's. Menarik tul ambiance dan decor dia, seperti memanggil-manggil kami masuk, hehe...

Restoran ni diurus orang Melayu, specialize in halal chinese cuisine tapi ada gak menu goreng-goreng biasa dan Western.

Aku makan lauk Chicken with Dried Chili. Memang authentic taste dia! Abang nyer Cantonese Kuey Tiau, Iman (bini Abang Imam) nyer sup Yong Tau Foo dan Muaz nyer Nasi Goreng Cina pun begitu gak!

Erk! Camne aku tau? Sebab aku ler jadi Majlis Perbandaran malam tu. Serving dia beso-beso ooo...

Pagi esoknyer ikut abang ngan anak-anak beriadah- kununnyer lar... Nan ado! Aku dok sibuk amik gambo bagai sambil jalan marathon lite-lite :P Nasib baik terlepas pijak taik lembu!

Sunrise over Sungai Sepang- lagi lagi gambo takde makne buat tatapan para tetamu ke blog ni (yang bole dibilang jumlahnyer dengan jari)...

Dalam kul 10.00 pagi baru ler berangkat untuk sarapan di kedai mamak...

Ni namanyer Koci. Dok layan kucing abang jap sementara tunggu siap-siap nak gi kenduri kawin (lagi!)...

Haiyoh!!! Notti lar you, Koci! Patut lar Iman dok bising ikan-ikan dia tetiba jadi penakut semacam baru-baru ni!

Rupanyer sejak berbadan tiga (ke empat?) ni, selera makan si Koci menyebabkan dia rajin menilik-nilik segala sumber makanan alternatif yang ada...

Layan punye layan, aku dengan Koci bole tertido sama kat lantai ruang tamu tu :P

Abang kejut Zuhur baru sedo, hehe...

Suka gambo ni :) Walaupun dikira tak jadi, tapi aku suka sebab dia different... Eh, nape ramai pilih tema oren tahun ni ek?

Lepas Zuhur siap-siap, bertolak ke Banting untuk kenduri kawin sepupu Abang Imam. Punye ler tarik muka makcik abang tu sebab kitorang sampai lewat. Muncung tu bole buat gantung baju dah :P 

Sebab aku ler tu... Rasa bersalah lak.

Bunga kemboja yang mak Abang Imam bela. Singgah jap umah mak pak abang, selang satu taman perumahan aje dari rumah kenduri tadi, sebelum memulakan perjalanan pulang...

Letih, tapi seronok sangat!

Harap sudi lar jemput kita dholan maneh yo kang? Matur nuwon seng akeh-akeh!

And this too shall pass...

Upon arrival in Kuala Terengganu last Friday morning, I actually received bad news from home...

An aunt had passed away during the night.

It's funny how deaths come quite close together in my family. Wasn't it just last week that my grand aunt passed away? And a few years previous, an uncle and an aunt died on the same day, followed by another relative a few days after...

Only 4 of Pa's 9 siblings are still currently with us. Of the living, 3 still have their spouse around. Of the dead, only 2 survived their spouse.

That now leaves me with a total of 4 uncles and 7 aunts, inclusive of an uncle and his wife from my Ma's side. And they too shall pass... Though death knows no boundary of time nor space, the moment has certainly arrived for my parents' generation to meet our Maker.

Imagine this- when the days were young, it took my parents and I from morning until night to visit all the relatives staying around Klang only during 'eid. The same was needed for Kuala Lumpur. Likewise for Seremban-Melaka. Now? A day more than suffice.

I expressly avoid thinking of Ma and Pa passing away, though I know it will come quite soon. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but until then...

Getaway...

By the time Ben, Sham and I reached Perhentian Putra, the heavy rain had turned into a light drizzle. 

The first leg of our journey was uneventful. We reached Hentian Bas Majlis Bandaraya Kuala Terengganu at about 5.30 in the morning.

We decided to rest a while at Masjid Abidin, also known as Masjid Putih.

A beautiful mosque but the security guard advised us to keep a sharp eye on our luggage at all times.

Dawn approached. We went back to the bus station for breakfast, purchased tickets for the journey home (which we almost couldn't get) and then headed out to Jeti Shahbandar to catch the 9.00 o' clock boat to...

...heaven! No lah! Just kidding :P

We chose a 3 days 2 nights package at Laguna Redang Island Resort. Quite pricey but the atmosphere was well worth the money spent.

We were given a briefing upon arrival at about 12.00 noon. The brief was light and funny. I enjoyed it immensely but few others laughed at the jokes, which was what I found sad about Malaysian society. Or perhaps the group was just too tired... (yeah, right!)

Buffet meals at the Sang Suria Restaurant from lunch on day of arrival to breakfast on departure day was part of the package.

This was the first peek at the beach from the balcony of the restaurant. Even I had trouble believing that this was taken from my very own camera! It looked like something out of a brochure!

The only quarrel I had with the amenities was that the standard room provided in the package lacked a drying area for our wet garments. Duh! With all that water around, it's only common sense that every room had to have one (even if it's not a deluxe room)!

The package allowed for 3 snorkeling trips. To my surprise, as tired as we were, we went to all three! I even had the chance to see a baby shark while swimming around the coral rich area at one of the beaches!

I had one snorkeling experience before this at Pangkor so I know enough that it is a good idea to rent the life jacket even when you could swim very well. It allows you to relax while looking at all the wondrous sights.

And since I never could get used to the snorkel breathing apparatus, I decided to save RM10 by bringing my own goggles...

The ones in blue were our guides while the ones in red were boat crew cum life guards. Oh, how I envied their freedom of movement in the water because they were experienced and seasoned enough be rid of the restricting life jackets!

That water is really blue, I kid you not! It's like someone rinsed blue watercolour off their paintbrush in the water.

We had the privilege of visiting the waters off Pulau Kerengga, the Redang Marine Park and C.K. Bay...

...and was crazy enough to go for the photo shoot at all 3 sites. Unfortunately, I'm no Tyra Banks so I was captured in a variety of weird poses and expressions in most of my photos :P

Despite that, I bought all of them even after hearing that they charge RM5 per frame! So people, my advice would be to save all that money and buy yourselves one of those fancy cameras that could be used underwater.

I went for a walk on the 2nd night and shot a lot of night scenes. Unfortunately, the yield rate was very poor due to blurring. I forgot to bring my tripod along on that particular night and was too lazy to go back to the room for it!

Yurusenai! :(

I walked along the beach into the territory of neighbouring resorts and found abundant night life. In light of the 'island party' recently highlighted in the news, I really shouldn't find this surprising but I did anyway with this being Terengganu and all...

I enjoyed this scene very much. There was a family playing with sparklers and crackers on the beach just like in the animes I often watch.

I ended my walk by relaxing next to the Tupai Cafe and listening to the resident Filipino band Tequila Sunrise.

The next day, after playing around the resort area for one last time, we packed up and took off for the mainland...

Once back at Shahbandar, we walked a few hundred meters to Pasar Payang for lunch and souvenirs. It rained that afternoon so we relaxed at one of the wakaf provided along Bazaar Warisan.

Once the rain stopped, we returned to Masjid Putih to freshen up before embarking on our journey home...

Goodbye Terengganu! Hope to see you again... if we have the budget :P

Sayonara...

Buat nenda Puteh bintu Mimah...

...al Faatihah.

Big Screen Breakdown: X-Men Origins and Star trek

Have you:

Time to spare? Dime to share?

If watching movies is something you truly enjoy...

Then go watch these...

...because you're worth it!

Canvas...

Kono mama ja irarenakutemo

Kore kara ni nagasaretemo

Keshite kawaranai, keshite uso ja nai

Bokura ga ima deaeta koto

Tori no youni jiyuu na no ni

Kaze no youni sabishikatta

Keshite modorenai, keshite yogosenai

Namida de nutta kyanbasu

Bokura dake no kyanbasu

Pemurah...

"I ni muka approachable ke?"  tanya Abang Man, hairan.

Pasti ada yang telah datang kepadanya lagi dengan permintaan yang bukan-bukan. Memang begitu nasib saudaraku yang seorang ini, kerap didatangi mereka yang bermasalah, merayu simpati mahukan bantuan.

Lama sudah aku memikirkan soalan yang diajukan. Akhirnya aku telah membuat satu kesimpulan- saudaraku ini mempunyai rupa yang pemurah...

Haippp!!! Baca baik-baik! Pemurah, bukan murahan!

Ada sesuatu pada dirinya. Sesuatu yang membuatkan orang berkeperluan berani untuk menghampirinya. Seperti ada tertulis di wajahnya:

'Kemungkinan di sini, pencarian anda berakhir...

Barangkali di sini, ada ruang untuk bernafas dalam kesesakan yang dijana oleh masalah anda...'

Itulah juga yang telah menarik perhatianku kepadanya awal pertemuan kami dahulu. Mengingatkan itu, aku segan sendiri. Aku hanya memikirkan diri sendiri sedangkan dia begitu terbeban dengan semua permintaan dan harapan yang diletakkan terhadapnya tanpa diminta.

Siapakah aku untuk menambah lagi beban itu...?

My first taste of management duty...

...and boy, is it ROTTEN!

A staggering total of 6 key people has left or will be leaving our little department by June of 2009 and I suddenly find myself in the unenviable position of having to manage a unit without having to race another rat for it (a race which I had actually planned on discreetly falling out of!).

How I long for the days of being just another drone in the hive, where we only need to hear and obey. Now it is ME who has got to find ways to make people hear and obey! :P Ugh!

I even had to go so far as to look for, buy and ACTUALLY STUDY A BOOK on getting along with others! And the suggestions and advices given were SO NOT ME but, for the sake of avoiding a mini World War III, very necessary. I'm pretty straightforward by nature, a person who calls a brick a brick and to hell with anyone else who were so myopic that they fail to see it for what it is.

But in this new world I have to live in, we need to seem like we're kissing the boss' ass without actually doing so, while appearing to give in to every dissatisfied demand from the staff when we are,  in reality, maneuvering them to our (hopefully correct) point of view.

In one sense, I'm lucky enough to have a very understanding and supportive Big Boss, who knows I've done my best despite being tied up by events and circumstances.

But it's all so DAMNED TIRING! I need a long rest...

Iklan anti rokok!

~Ngeee... :D

Sangat sinis. I like...