Selamat Hari Raya!!

Hey...

How is everyone?.. i just got back from Melaka. was there since Friday for Hari Raya (the rest of the world calls it 'Eid', but i prefer the Malaysianised version). Had lots to eat since day 1. For those unfamiliar with Hari Raya, it's basically a celebration after a long month of fasting during ramadhan. i think.

anyway, this is the time of the year where you get to see different types of biscuits, family get-togethers, colourful clothes, and ridiculous amounts of people at shopping malls. For descriptions on what people do during raya, google it. shall not bore you with what other people can type better.

what i look forward to every year during raya is the food (surprise, surprise). My grandma makes the best chicken rendang, urap (some dried coconut thingy) and fish sambal.. delicious to have during the first day of raya with ketupat...yummmy...

growing up, i've noticed that most people (well, my relatives anyway) will have a standard menu that they prepare throughout the raya weekend. the first day everyone would definitely have the rendang, ketupat and just some slight variation / signature dishes. i've got an aunt who makes the best beef cooked with coconut sauce.. hehe..

then on the second day, people cut down on the rendang and ketupat combo and switch to something that's easier to prepare.. most notably fried mee. My aunts / and mum calls it Mee Berderap which i think means fried noodles. hehe.. anyway, every household that i visit somehow just coincidentally fries noodles on the second day.

come the third day, it's back to usual malay dishes. these would cover rice with whatever dish they feel compelled to cook on that day.. For this particular year, my grandma managed to top everyone else by cooking a dish which i really love... Masak Lemak Ikan.. its this yellowy spicy dish thats just excellent (sorry, my vocab in describing food ain't that extended). pair this with clam sambal and fried fish..mmmmmmmm... well, i actually had 4 (yes, you read that correctly) servings of it.. and this was 4 in the afternoon!! hahaha.. it's one of those dishes where you just don't wanna stop.

so basically, every year i fast during ramadhan and lose some weight (very very little) and gain it all back and some during raya. i guess fasting during ramadhan kinda builds up the appetite for raya as well. ahaha..

now i'm back in KL and will be on holiday for the rest of the week... to re'adjust' my tummy. first step to this was futsal!! the rendang kinda took a toll on my running though, everyone around me seemed to be moving abit faster than me. oh well.

i guess that's how my raya went.. as you can see, the highlight of the trip was basically the food (there were some relative visiting sessions, but they provide food as well). Here's a list of the things i ate over the weekend:

List not in any particular order, just whatever comes to mind. i may have left things out..

• Asam pedas (one of grandma's specialty..mmmm)
  
• Fried fish (there's something about eating kampung styled fried fish)
  
• Ketupat
• Lemang
• ChickenRendang
• Nasi Lemak (breakfast)
  
• Roti Canai (breakfast)
  
• Roti John (went to the same restaurant 2 nights in a row. haha)
  
• Roasted chicken (went out with relatives, ordered 3 whole chickens)
• clam sambal
• Masak Lemak
  
• Beef rendang
• Beef with coconut sauce
• Urap (coconut thingy. i only see it during raya at my grandma's place.. eat it with sambal and ketupat)
• Fried noodles
• Fried rice (breakfast)
• a few types of cookies (this year, i kinda cut down on the cookies, trying to watch my figure! hahahahaha)
• KFC (had some people over at our house.. this was OUR specialty!!)

guess that's all i can think of.

have a good week guys! and Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin to those celebrating raya!!!..

take care!

f

my condolences..

hey..

havent blogged in a while.. been quite busy at work and stuff.. anyway, just found out that my friend's grandma just passed away a few days ago. my condolences.

i've never been able to handle death well. i guess i just can't take the fact that a particular person can just not be part of your life forever.. and there's nothing you can do about it.

throughout my life, i can remember a few deaths that have close ties with me. As i was growing up, i remembered my grandma's funeral.. this was probably the earliest encounter with that part of living that i can remember. i was really young, so it didnt really hit me.

i had a school friend who passed away just after high school.. he sat next to me in class that final year. the last time i saw him, he was doing a drift move with his car. a few months later, i got a phone call early in the morning saying that he was involved in an accident...

most recently, was the passing of my aunt. This hit me quite bad... As i was growing up, she was one of the few relatives who was really concern about education. she had a daughter my age, and she would make sure that both of us get the proper education that we need. i remembered going to the same tuition as my cousin, my aunt calling my mum asking how my results were after exams (provided they were never really good).. and making sure that we choose the right path in life. About a year and a half ago, she fell ill. even the doctors couldnt figure out what happened to her. she was just lying helpless on the hospital bed.. i actually shed a tear when i went to visit her once.

it was extremely sad seeing someone you know, looking very helpless just lying there unable to do much... well, a few months later she passed away..

i guess when you think about death it makes you look at things differently in life, how short it could be and how immediate it can just go away.

anyway, hope you're doing okay J.. take care!

f

Freddie The Roach Slayer!

hey,

just found out something today. Freddie has an alter ego!!!.. (if you dont know who freddie is, he's my cat).

for the past few days, i've noticed an increase in the number of dead cockroaches in front of my house. i didnt really think much of it, until one night..

as i drove back from office one late night, i saw freddie sitting high on the gate wall.. he had that 'look' on his face, like he was on a mission. normally, seeing me he'll jump down and start meowing and asking me to rub his belly.. well, this time it was different. he just sat there and was staring into something in the dark.

Then all of a sudden, in two strides he jumped to the lower part of the wall and jumped into the darkness.. i didnt know what he was doing until i came closer. he attacked a cockroach that was making its way from the drain to god knows where..

now i know why there are a few dead cockroaches around!.. and given the fact that cockroaches are the one thing that i hate the most, i am extremely happy i 'adopted' freddie!!.. now my house will be a roach free zone, as i will be protected by..

Freddie, The Roach Slayer..

..hope everyone had a good weekend!

f

p/s - told my mum about him slaying the roaches. her response - ''probably you're not feeding him enough and he's hungry''

...

hey..

hows everyone? am not really in the mood to be typing anything much.

gf's off on a holiday in Paris, Rome, Florence.. so my whole week's been a bit off. i guess when someone close to you goes away for awhile it kinda makes you realise how much you love that person. (i've always loved you baby, but its a different scale when you're not around. haha)

oh well, one things for sure, i havent managed to wake up early at all this week.. on normal days (pre-gf on holiday), i would hear my gf's voice early in the morning.. she'd call me at around 7.45 to wake me up.. even though i still 'snooze' her everyday, she still never gives up calling me.. every day. so imagine this week when no one wakes me up. hahaha.. i've been waking up at 8.30 every morning!!!!.. i'm running out of excuses to tell my boss why i'm late. i even told my boss one day that 'my gf's not around to wake me up, so i overslept'. .haha

even the evenings are getting abit quiet.. normally, she'd be the first person i'd meet up for dinner (unless its Tuesdays, you know why... or if i have plans with my friends).. so now i just try to find what i can take away and eat at home... or meet up with friends who try to keep me company! (thanks guys! you know who you are!).

anyway, have a good weekend everyone.

f

Izinkan

hey all,

was quite bored, and luckily i found this on my friend's blog. try it and you'll be amazed how creepy it is.

RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name. <- if you feel like it.(from http://aivana.vox.com)

• If someone says "is this okay?" you say,
Kaulah Segalanya - Ruth Sahanaya (haha)

• How would you describe yourself?
Where i End and You Begin - Radiohead (That's quite funny)

• What do you like in a guy/girl?
This charming man - The Smiths (this is creepy)

• How do you feel today?
Still Waiting - Sum 41 (another creepy one)


• What is your life's purpose?
Pedalpusher - Sterephonics (hahahahhaa)


• What is your motto?
Spend my life with you - Eric Bennet (this thing is really creeping me out)

• What do your friends think of you?
Gravedigger - Dave Matthews (ahahhahhahahahahhahahhahahaha)

• What do you think of your parents?
Believe me Natalie - The Killers (umm...?)

• What do you think about very often?
Pain for Pleasure - Sum 41 (hahahhahhahahhhahahahhahhahaha)

• What is 2 + 2?
Heal The World - M.Jackson

• What do you think of your best friend?
Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt (ummm... extremely creepy)

• What do you think of the person you like?
Freak - Silverchair (hahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahaha, i'm actually laughing here)

• What is your life story?
Talk - Coldplay (interesting, talk too much i guess)

• What do you want to be when you grow up?
Captain Dread - Dreadzone (very fitting, creepily)

• What do you think of when you see the person you like?
I want to know what love is - Foreigner (scary)

• What will you dance to at your wedding?
How do i live - Trisha Yearwood (i think my ipod knows what i'm doing)

• What will they play at your funeral?
From the inside - Linkin Park (is that how i'm gonna die?)

• What is your hobby/interest?
No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley (hahaha)

• What is your biggest fear?
Fake - Brand New Heavies (well said)

• What is your biggest secret?
Eleutheria - Lenny Kravitz (i think it means 'liberty')

• What do you think of your friends?
Authority - Goldfinger (hmmmm)

• What will you post this as?
Izinkan - V.E (cool title i guess)

creepy.

have a good day people!

f

short working week. woohoo

hey,

hope everyone's having a good week.

it's gonna be a public holiday in malaysia on friday!.. woohoo.. we're celebrating our 50th independence day.. amazing.

what have i got planned?.. nothing. yet.

i just feel like sleeping in and just slowly let the day sink in.. thinking back on how life was pre-1957.. hehehe.. plus, it'll be too crowded in shopping malls. Paddington pancakaes breakfast sounds like a good plan.. yumm..

well.. i guess we'll see what i do when the weekend comes.

updates from me - nothing new. work's been the usual SSDD. umm...besides that, theres nothing much going on actually.

... i'll post again when there's actual things to talk about. ciao!

f

p/s - typing this at 1.20am after futsal.. so, excuse the boring post.

Frederick von Meowmeow

hey,

there's been this stray cat around my neighbourhood for the past month or so. my neighbour always gives him food (friskies i think) which makes him wanna hangout around here all the time.

well, today as i got home from work, the cat was just sitting (more like licking his b*lls) in my driveway. me being the nice person, goes over and start rubbing the cat's head. the cat was just extremely happy that i did that. it actually didnt want me to stop. everytime i let go of my hand and start to walk in, he'll start meowing (is that even a word?)..

so, i basically had to play with the cat for the next 10 - 15 mins. Finally, when it got too warm inside i decided to go inside and in my head was thinking 'if the cat's gonna follow me in, too bad'.. and sure enough, the cat followed me in.

magically i had some catfood in the kitchen and decided to give this cute little cat sometihng to munch on. he was extremely happy and finished it extremely quick!.. guess he was just hungry. haha..

anyway, i've decided to 'adopt' this cat. i'm gonna provide him food and a belly rub everytime i see him. i'm not gonna keep him in the house as he may leave bodily fluids and sh*t everywhere. and since i'm adopting the cat, i need a name.. yes, you've guessed it.. i'm gonna name the cat FREDERICK Von MEOWMEOW... hahahha..

dont you think that's such a cool name?.. freddie for short by theway. reason for picking the name - nothing specific, but i wanted something that had a mixture of seriousness and cute in it. the 'von' kinda makes him abit more sophisticated, dont you think?. hahaha..

well, after dinner i didnt really see freddie.. guess he must be prowling the streets looking for umm.. female cats.

thats it for me today!.. hope everyone's week turning out okay!!

f

p/s - did you know that people with pets apparently live longer and are generally happier???