ho ho ho!...

today is christmas day, and this means billions of people across the world will be spending the day with their family. even though for many the day lacks any religious element, it is meant as a christian festival to celebrate the birth of jesus christ. many however view it as an opportunity to give presents and spend time with their family.

most people will send christmas messages or cards to ones they love or care about. however in the digital age this can all be done online [take note: ecards are actually not my kind of thingy although i am a green person; read more on why is this so here]. there are many free christmas ecard providers who will give you the opportunity to send an ecard to the email of your family and friends.

there are many standard christmas messages, such as “happy christmas” and “merry Christmas”. however most people like to personalise their own messages, sending their own personal greetings to the people they care about.

so i will wish a happy christmas to all my readers, and i hope you have a happy new year.

is it too early to say "xi nian kuai le!!"?

what is the official time period when it would be proper to say~ xi nian kuai le or gong xi fa cai?

what ever it is, i don't care whether its early for this or not; as i am already in the mood~ i really can't wait for the seasons. what's more to wear beautiful clothes and visit my friends during the chinese new year.

and last but not least...

may the year of the tiger be the year of...
good fortune,
good health,
good luck,
and prosperity for you!
happy new year 4708!

chinese new year — wikipedia
chinese new year horoscopes — year of the tiger 2010
chinese new year — my blog postings

christmas is just around the corner...

believe it or not people i have never attended any christmas party when i moved back here. so the 'christmas line dance party' in ipoh that i went with intan and mrs teh on last friday night, was kind of the first one for me since then. it was truly great and enjoyable. we really enjoyed ourselves sooooo much!

you know people when i first started line dancing earlier this year, i didn't expect to have this kind of fun time at all. so as you could see now people its not that bad staying in this part of the globe. i have even been to line dance carnival in penang few weeks ago. i know i know i still owe the blog post that's in my draft folder mind you! so no sweat i will post about it no matter what~ better late than never huh?!! anyway i have made up my mind to try my very best to release all the blog post in the draft folder asap at least before the year ends... looks like i have to find some time for a self blogging marathon *phew*

alright, one thing's best about attending a costume or theme party is that i could dress-up as much as i could. and as the result, i brought home a hamper sponsored by yee hup for the best dressed title... woot! you could view me with the hamper pictured as the thumbnail of the party vid (later part of this blog post). on the other hand, if you have been a follower of my twitter, i am very sure that you have already known by now about this than anyone else from this tweet.

although some people may find that my costume was very simple— i just went for a bling bling red top with white skirt, and a pair of black boots, and not forgetting a small bling bling christmas hat! but i trust that if you follow the theme correctly, and with at least a bit of effort (take note that i did my hair myself!)... i am sure that you will get a big chance there. oh btw i have been dubbed as one of the santa's elves by an online american friend :))

and another thing that i would like to point out~ this kind of party is a bit different than any other christmas party, as we got to meet some other line dancers and line danced together with them along all kind of musics like country, waltz, rock and roll, and what ever you name it... even hip hop! so don't get the interpretation wrong that line dance is for old people only. you are definitely wrong! make sure you watch our new found line dancing friend shan in the following video. he danced to fuego perfectly i tell you!

and of course there's more of me in the video too thanks to more of our new found line dancing friends hamidah and her gang~

i could obviously say that the party would not be successful with the great organization by the organizer chris ng, who is also a line dance instructor in ipoh. thank you so much chris for the great party! we will surely come back next time...

kuE in china press!...

i mentioned here that the lantern festival celebration i attended in kampung station approximately 2 weeks ago, has been featured in china press newspaper on monday. finally i got it today from my friend ms tung. and since i can't take no for an answer, i tried my very best to search for it online too. then to my surprise... tadaa!!!... get the link here. but i placed it in this post as well just in case the link disappeared. besides that, this is just for my record. whilst i don't even understand a single word mind you ;)

更新: September 27, 2009 18:16

打擊爆竊案．解奇難雜症
江沙火車頭設服務中心

江沙火車頭今年舉辦的提燈游行非常成功，吸引逾千人出席。

（江沙27日訊）針對早前江沙火車頭（Kg Station）治安不靖，爆竊案頻傳問題，首相署（司法及國會事務）部長拿督斯里納茲里決定在江沙火車頭成立服務中心，以解決居民大小事務。

這個服務中心是一個貨櫃，將會在近期內運抵江沙火車頭，納茲里也會安排專員為民服務。

一週7爆竊案

有鑑于此，納茲里請求當地居民善用這項便利，一旦有投訴，或面對難題，可向專員求助，倘若專員解決不了，他將會挺身而出。

治安向來不賴的江沙火車頭在今年4月分常常發生罪案，且曾試過一週內發生至少7宗爆竊，爆發該村50年來最嚴重的爆竊案！

儘管這裡有睦鄰計劃與志願警衛團為了治安輪流巡邏，但是猖獗的竊賊仿佛洞悉這些志願隊體的運作，總是在他們休息后，才活躍干案，叫人防不勝防。

納茲里（左2）與黃秀娟（左）派“紅包”給12歲以下的孩童。

居民擔心隨時會成為竊賊的下一個目標，惶惶不可終日，甚至一些居民已在家中準備武器，例如巴冷刀、木棍，以備不之需。

納茲里說，一些竊徒毫無人性，甚至連阿婆的棺材本也偷光，害得阿婆以淚洗臉。

“警方接到投訴后，有加強該區的巡邏，但是居民不能完全靠警方，反之應該打醒十二分精神，充當警方耳目。”

納茲里昨晚為江沙火車頭區慈善會舉辦的提燈籠晚宴主持開幕致詞時，這么指出。

他說，若在火車頭多了一個服務中心，那么，居民面對任何“奇難雜症”，可第一時間前往櫃台找專員協助解決。

不再投訴無門
★火車頭慈善社主席黃秀娟

家長護著孩子準備提燈游行囉！

有了這個服務中心，居民面對問題時，不再投訴無門，多了一個投訴空間。

希望居民可以善用服務中心，因為是他們極力向納茲里爭取的。

部長關心居民
★火車頭睦鄰計劃副主席鄧國榮

感激納茲里設立服務中心，這證明部長關注火車頭的居民，也說明部長做到首相要求的“一個大馬”計劃，因為火車頭居民主要以華裔居主，其次是印裔。

千人出席提燈盛會
3大民族同歡共慶

華巫一起大跳馬來舞蹈，象徵一個馬來西亞。

納茲里出席江沙火車頭慈善社舉行的中秋提燈宴會，並拿起燈籠游火車頭一圈，這項盛會吸引逾千人，包括3大民族出席，場面熱鬧。

納茲里為這項盛會主持開幕前致詞提到兒時記趣，指中秋節也是他童年最美麗的回憶之一。

當年，還是小孩的他和華裔朋友一起玩燈籠點蠟燭，那個時候燈籠有龍型、兔子、水果等等，令他非常興奮。

他說，中秋節並非只屬小孩，老人也非常享受中秋，因為這是其中一個跟家人團聚的日子，這種良好文化應該傳承下去。

是晚，除了提燈嚐食外，當局還安排三大民族文化表演，包括中華文化的舞獅，扇舞，馬來同胞呈獻馬來舞蹈及街舞及印裔同胞的傳統舞蹈，皆贏得大家好評，納茲里也看得連連點首。

大家最期待的還是幸運抽獎，納茲里除了撥出1萬令吉辦這項盛會，也報效4份大獎，結果巨獎（雪柜）落在年輕居民吳汶捷身上。

出席者包括硝山馬華區會主席吳有敬、硝山馬華區會婦女組主席關鳳珠及江沙馬華區會婦女組主席洪淑金等。

lantern festival celebration

according to wikipedia: the lantern festival 元宵节 is a chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the chinese calendar. it is not to be confused with the mid-autumn festival, which is also sometimes known as the "lantern festival" in locations such as singapore, malaysia. during the lantern festival, children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns 兔子灯 and solve riddles on the lanterns 猜灯谜. it officially ends the chinese new year. read more here.

kuE' note: this blog post supposed to be posted a week already. but i don't care ler... its better late than nothing or never hor? i updated my twitter anyway :)

ever since i joined my line dance group, my life kinda hectic with other activities too. sometimes i was asked to perform with them in functions or events here. i remembered that my first experience was for a mother & father's day celebration organized by a chinese community. it has been attended by local umno leaders. so i had to do a zapin number and some other line dances to english tunes erm... layan je ler. to tell you the truth, of course i lurve english numbers more especially all those fast tracks.

then there was this function organized by umno people quite some time ago. it was radically damnnnnn delayed i tell you. i stressed out the word damn because it was really late by 2 hours!!! blerk!... pity the kids who followed us. we don't have choice but to stay as we had to do some performances. if you could see my chinese friends, they were all crazy like mad. what to do. anyhow you can view one of my performances that has been recorded by megat here.

so basically my performances last saturday was obviously my third one! it was for a lantern festival celebration held here in kualè. unfortunately i didn't manage to take lotsa pics as usual though as my oly was running out of battery huhuu... now i dunno whether to blame myself for not charging my oly's battery beforehand; or my friend-cum-translator ms tung who didn't explain to me about the function properly. never mind lor... ms tung, no sweat ok?

lesson learned: every night before bedtime, i will ensure that i fully charged my oly's battery before the next day turned up, no matter whether i have anything going on or not! ;)

the function started with everyone singing the national song; as soon as the guest of honour, minister in the prime minister's department datuk seri mohamed nazri abdul aziz arrived.

there were variety of music and drums and of course the chinese lion dances and firecrackers.

children carry their lanterns around the village and families come together to eat sweet rice balls for good fortune and family unity. chinese lanterns were traditionally made of silk, paper and even glass. although the most common is the typical red balloon lantern, nowadays chinese Lanterns come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. there are lanterns in shapes of boxes, lotus flowers, dragons, butterflies and all sorts of animals. they range from the small lanterns carried by hand made of paper by school children to gigantic floats shaped in the chinese zodiac animal for that year made by teams of craftsmen. lion dances came to the main stage then along with these group of people. i knew that they have some kind stories and meaning behind the lion dance performances.

towards the end of the performance, both "the lions" tried to peel out the mandarin oranges skin. they then presented the oranges to datuk nazri, who is also the mp of padang rengas.

i tell you what people. i could say that the function that night was really celebrated with 1malaysia spirit although it was meant for a chinese festivity. there were dance performances of all sorts of cultures like malay, chinese and indian, not forgetting shuffle dance by kualè youth itself.

my performance was the first one. i didn't get to ask anyone to capture a video of it though. none of our kids followed anyway as the function was at night, and we afraid that it would be dragged till late. i should have asked bebudak shuffle tu to record a video of mine kan kan... :)

the function wrapped up with lucky draws. looks like people were already looking forward with it from the beginning, as prizes offered were not bad i.e. hampers, bicycles, electrical items like blender, stand fans, and tvs too! but we didn't wait till the function ended though, as we knew it that there must be jammed if everyone were to go back together. from what i understood, since the function happened to be during syawal, datuk nazri also gave away raya money packets to all children who came that night.

and before i sign off this blog post, i am so glad to present you part of the performances held during that night... enjoy!

lantern festival celebration from kuE on vimeo

so how's the lantern festival at your places celebrated. care to share them with me?

see... when i blog, i really blog away *phew*

• coming up: more delayed blog post and sponsored blog post.


• coming up as well: the most bloggers' events talk of the blogosphere! can you guess of what is it? tungguuuuuuuuu... (wait) *winks*


• besides that, i am also waiting for ms tung to pass me a china press newspaper cut-out about the function. they actually have a pic of me there you know. i wonder whether any of you people realized it ;)

the day before the big day...

just like any other festive holidays, now we muslims around the globe will be celebrating the eid mubarak (also known as hari raya aidil fitri here) which precisely is a 'celebration day of fasting'. and the best thing is we celebrate it all through out the month of syawal! wohooo...

and part of the most important thingy for me is that my hair has been fixed!!! i am so glad i did it, cuz now many people praised me for looking much younger ehem...

the day was spent by doing some thorough cleaning everywhere. looks like we didn't opt for any panjut this year hah! we just go for some colourfull windmills instead wakakaaa, blimey...

while puteri and i prepared cupcakes as usual. we always do this at the very last minute because obviously we want the cupcakes to be served good... as you could see in the pic above, it was my view of puteri helping to put up the curtain since she has completed with me— mixing the cupcakes ingredients. besides that, both my sisters already make sure that all the fresh flowers are in order. its a must thingy for us to make sure that the house look more vibrant *winks*

mama cooked rendang pedas ayam (chicken), as part of other main perak delicacies specially served during hari raya at our place. like cupcakes, the chicken can't be cooked very much in advance. not like other meals— we can cook them in earlier, and keep in the fridge. we will then heat the food up when we wanna served them on hari raya. closed relatives and friends were normally looking forward for these... hmm yummy!!!... but one thing, the meals were all cooked by mama this time around since grandmother is already 82! but of course bah is monitoring mama like the chef je... anyhow ok what, bah really knows her way around in cooking!

alrighto!... i guess that's it for now. i am off to bed! gotta wake up radically early tomorrow to decorate the cupcakes.

i would like to take this chance to wish everyone selamat hari raya aidil fitri, maaf zahir & batin no matter wherever you are. to those of you whose driving back home, make sure you drive carefully. take care! *peace*

ramadhan is here...

may the festival of lights be the harbinger
of joy and prosperity
as the holy occasion of ramadhan is here
and the atmosphere is filled with the spirit
of mirth and love
here is hoping this festival of beauty brings your way
bright sparkles of contentment
that stay with you through the days ahead

our best wishes for you on ramadhan...

here's a reminder to all of you people no matter muslims or not, who is going to pasar ramadhan later in the evening:

• spend wisely


• bring your own food container, to save the environment people!

kuE' note:
pic of megat and i has been taken by my darling puteri on 10 july 2009. we were attending a kenduri organized by mom and her siblings at the ubudiah mosque. sorry people, puteri is so damn shy to take pics these days, what when redmummy said: and KuE ada Puteri yang hot, betullllllllllllll! =)

CNY mood

its just like yesterday we celebrated christmas then new year. and now another festive season is just around the corner... oh wow... how time flies very fast. megat went to school today to cover the school's extra CNY holidays from 24 january to 1 february 2009. 26 and 27 january 2009 are the national's public holidays. blimey! looks like i gotta plan some projects to do with megat for that 9 days break :D

as you could see, my blog is in the same mood as well weee...

1. for the scrolling marquee, get the html code from here. although the site is dedicated specially for kids to learn simple html codes, but who cares right. as long as i could learn something from there then it should be no problem at all. in fact i have learned a lot from Lissa Explains! i find other sites are too complicated ;)
   
   
2. for the floating widget (is this correct), i got mine from http://adiwidget.blogspot.com/ . i found the clip art on the web some time ago. i am so sorry that i couldn't remember of where i got it from. i save the clip art under .gif file (of course i edit it to a transparency mood first), then load it in to my photobucket... voila! simple as that :)

kuE' note:
do not feel hesitate to contact me for further queries or clarifications. i would be much glad to help you as far as i could.

hari raya aidil fitri

hari raya aidil fitri (also hari raya puasa, literally “celebration day of fasting“) is the malay term for the muslim festival of eid ul-fitr. hari raya is also known as lebaran. muslims in brunei, malaysia, singapore celebrate eid like other muslims throughout the world. the term “hari raya” literally means “day of celebration” — it is also occasionally used to refer to eid ul-adha in the form of “hari raya aidil adha“. the main greeting used by muslims in malaysia and singapore is “selamat hari raya” which means “happy eid” in malay. another greeting is “maaf zahir dan batin” which translates loosely to “i seek forgiveness (from you) physically and spiritually”, for hari raya is a time to reconcile and renew relationships with others.

colours of malaysia

i was with kay at memory lane in kinta city yesterday. we were filling up the member's form when i came across one of the questionnaires-- what festivals do you celebrate? answer: hari raya, chinese new year, deepavali, christmas or other (?). i was like... huh?!! wth! we are malaysians and shall celebrate them all. well of course the main one is the one of our religion, but when we are living in this country we are free to celebrate other festivals with our friends too. am i right? i find that malaysia's stands out with its wonderful way, many cultures live together and celebrate together. so guess what? i ticked all the boxes! *glurp*

so what if you were in my shoes?

happy chap goh meh

happy chap goh meh everyone! it's officially the last day of chinese new year, so i guess it's another year to come for celebrating chinese new year. most family will gather for a dinner again and probably tossing the "yee sang" to see who can get it up the highest.

chap goh meh (十五暝) also known as the 15th day of the lunar new year celebrations which means today is the last day of the chinese new year. how time passes. just a blink of an eye and 15 days have passed. where have all that time gone!!

the term chap goh meh is from the hokkien dialect and refers to the fifteenth day of the first month, which is the occasion of the first full moon of the new year.

the occasion is marked by feasting and various festivities, including the consumption of tangyuan. in traditional chinese culture, it is also celebrated as the lantern festival or the shang yuan festival.

however, it coincides with the chinese valentine's day. it is also when young unmarried women gather to toss tangerines into the sea, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up – a custom that originated in penang. in the past, this was also the only day that unmarried ladies could be seen with their partners.

新年快乐

for those who are not familiar with chinese astrology, this is the "Year of the Rat", and it begins today.

in western culture (synonymous with the "rat race"), it's surprising indeed that the appearance of this redoubtable rodent is so unwelcome, except perhaps on halloween.

this light-hearted lens is dedicated to all things "rat" -- be it "rat cheese", "ratafia", or "ratatouille"!

the Rat (chinese:鼠) was welcomed in ancient times as a protector and bringer of material prosperity. it is the first of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the chinese zodiac related to the chinese calendar. rat is associated with aggression, wealth, charm, and order, yet also associated with death, war, the occult, pestilence, and atrocities. the Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子.

in chinese, the word 鼠 may refer to either the rat or the mouse. therefore, in this context, year of the Mouse and year of the Rat are interchangeable terms.

source from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. read more about this topic here.

-----

its an honor to be born a rat!

rats have been given a bad rap in western culture, judging from pejorative terms like "he's a rat fink!", or "i don't give a rat's ass what you think!"

in china, the rat is a respected intuitive creature, synonymous with courage and an enterprising character. rats know how to come up with solutions, take care of themselves and others without problems.

besides being curious and intelligent with a vivid imagination, rats are very lively and need oodles of attention (mental and physical stimulation).

to sum it up, the positive side of the rat personality includes being easy-going, smart, magnetic, quick witted and well-liked! on the flip side, rats have also been known to be a tad cool, calculating, selfish, and protective when they're not in top form.

what motivates Rats? you guessed it -- money and status :o)

"Earth Rats" (those born in 1948 and 2008), are said to be very honorable folk who love to do things around the home and enjoy a stable life. although a titch stingy with their moolah, they are cheerful with friends although are prone to stress.

for more on the little known life of ratties, and what to expect from these ripsnorting rodents in 2008, don't hesitate to check out what makes a rat tick!

__________

note: persons born within the following date ranges can be said to have been born in the "Year of the Rat":

feb. 18, 1912- feb. 5, 1913
feb. 5, 1924 - Jan. 24, 1925
jan. 24, 1936 - feb. 10, 1937
feb. 10, 1948 - jan. 28, 1949
jan. 28, 1960 - feb. 14, 1961
feb. 15, 1972 - feb. 2, 1973 (ehem...)
feb. 2, 1984 - feb. 19, 1985
feb. 19, 1996 - feb. 6, 1997

i would like to wish a
Happy & Most Prosperous Chinese Year
of the Rat (SuZi) to all...

kuE's related links: 2007' and 2006' post on chinese new year.

deepavali mood...

we celebrated deepavali at our gardener, pakcik (uncle) dore's place this morning +/- 11.30 am. usually he will get his children to send us the delicious delicacies that his wife cooked i.e. tose (sorry i dunno the correct spelling, thus can't even find a link), murukku, etc. it seems that this time his children already drove off just before we reached there at their place lol... eventually the children came back, and we still brought home the food hehe... hmm... double times eating of the tose... yummy... yay!

ref pics above, from top to bottom, left to right:

1. my grandmother and pakcik dore
   
2. myself and pakcik dore's MIL
   
3. my grandmother and megat
   
4. megat and i
   
5. my plate of tose! ;)
   
6. pakcik dore's youngest daughter, loshini
   
7. pakcik dore's youngest son, darwin and megat
   
8. loshini and their neighbour's daughter
   
9. a box of our deepavali cupcakes gift for pakcik dore and family
   

so, what's your kind of deepavali? care to share it with me ;) ?

chinese new year

we (kuE, puteri and megat) would like to wish a happy and prosperous chinese new year to all chinese around the world who celebrate it. may God bless you abundantly with good health and wealth.

p/s- from what i know here in malaysia, customs for chinese new year include paying off debts, buying new clothes, cleaning the house, and enjoying delicious family feasts. children receive red envelopes filled with money. firecrackers are set off to scare aware evil spirits and bring good luck. click here, here, here or here for more info.

p/s/s- graphics from china the beautiful.

selamat hari raya aidil adha

we didn't go anywhere today although its a holiday. flu bugs are still around that's why. maybe we just went to an auntie's place in bukit chandan with adik illa except mom and dad. besides that, at the same time we also met our latest edition to the family, auntie's grand-daughter who was born on christmas day last year. here are some pics of the baby with puteri-

we would also like to take this chance to wish all muslims around the world,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL ADHA from kuE, puteri & megat!

peace to the world...

christmas day

what i could tell everyone is that i'm lonely today, being all alone. dad and mom went to kl this morning. they have an appointment to meet shafinaz's (my brother's gf) parents for tea, to discuss about the marriage. both kids followed them. they also will be there until wednesday with my mom.

well like what i typed yesterday, christmas here and in kl are totally different. if i'm in kl by now, i'm sure i'll be joining all my friends for christmas party everywhere.

its quite a tough day anyway. i have to be on stand-by no matter what since the cashier' pos system hang the other day. it effected mine at the back office too. gosh... we are one of those who use the most canggih system. yet if the thing not function properly, everything gone. terrible.

hmmm... what else. as usual once i'm alone i would normally by take-out food. no own cook nothing lol. i just tapau-ed chinese fried rice and mee hailam from the ah lok' coffee shop or yut loy (budak koleq should know this place). they have the best pau ever. most people said that tanjung malim has the best one but i doubt saying that its not true. ok... i ate my food so late around 5pm. yeah... i finished it both all! this would keep my stomach until night ~ i didn't eat anything for dinner mannn... i've already damn full by then ;)

as usual also, i lepax at home lazily infront of the tv, changing channels dunno what to watch lol. maybe the one on tv3 at noon was nice - jaclyn victor in shanghai, asia music festival. i watched that until tears dropped from my eyes. tears of joy maybe. besides that i spend times by reading all the weekend papers excluding the tamil and chinese one of course hehe... there were few articles that catched my interest especially those in sunday mail where zainal alam kadir wrote about tsunami tragedy that happened exactly a year ago. not long after the tragedy he went or a holiday to bali. it seems that indonesia created one tv channel specially for the tragedy i.e. you could find anything related to the tsunami tragedy there. they even have a theme song for tsunami. other article that is in my sunday 'must read' list is "i say... by rina omar". hah... guess what. V knows rina. but i'm not sure about me as i can't recall much. this time she wrote about her christmas wish list which is damn logical for the nation, youth especially to be aware of. what else? hmm... o yea... i also won't miss to read dcck in pancaindera, utusan malaysia. thats just for me to read some other people's experiences in life ;)

it's christmas eve!!!

nothing special here. its just like the usual normal long weekend holiday i guess. here, if a public holiday falls on a sunday so the country gets to have an extra holiday i.e. monday. same goes to this christmas holiday. wow weee... arrghhh... but i have to be on stand-by here though... my supervisor will be going for his four days leave from tomorrow.

i said that it's normal because the environment is totally different from my kl life before. majority people here do not celebrate christmas. so that's why i feel that this holiday is just like any other long weekend holiday ;)

i used to join the company's christmas party in both two of my work places before. it was rather fun enough to gather with everyone including the bosses. other than the vast variety of food and drinks (alcohol and non-alcohol), we also exchange gifts with each other. talking about gifts, company's christmas party is different. we do not buy gifts for everyone (die lar if i have to lol...). days before the party a person-in-charge will write all the staff name in a piece of paper each and place them in a container. each of us then need to pick a name. so we just have to buy gift for that particular name only. kinda' kewl huh?!!...

i remember once when i was working in the hotel in sj. i picked vasanthi's name. i took few days for me to think of what am gonna get her. i was in secion 14, pj fews days before the front office' christmas party. i thought that its better for me to buy the present too. i dropped at cold storage mall. after few hours of good searching, i saw a tall glass vase with about two inches of pewter embosed with flowery motif at the bottom. bought that, even asked the sales girl to wrap it for me. simple as that. during the party, my supervisor (then) sharmini saw my gift for vasanthi. this lady was really one of the best buddy i have at work. "wahhh... what you bought for her? must be a whitening cream.", sharmini asked me. kah kah kah... everyone laughed out loud. sharmini also was the most kelakar one. in fact she is still now.

sometimes it's best to remember the good old days huh. anyhow i would like to take this chance to wish everyone...

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S & H A P P Y N E W Y E A R

1st day of hari raya...

...yesterday was damn busy as usual, like those years back. my staff didn't have time to sit even for a second. i (of course) helped them to fight too! lol... fight with the customers... hehe... rotfl... no lar... where we could fight with customer, no way... i mean, i also "turun padang" to join my staff with the busy situation. anyhow i sent my staff to perform their raya prayers while i stand-by at the cashier counter alone. it was damn silent then but as soon as people finished their raya prayers, it was damn busy non-stop till to-date.

girl cousins

L-R: liyana, ina (squeeeeeeezed), ida, sarah, nivin, illa, kuE (and one missing shanaz).

taken by basheer(?)

special guest

clockwise from left: auntie mia, enda teh, auntie mek, my mom & me.

megat & auntie mek

i went back at mid-day as relatives kept coming to our house. everyone from near and far were here. my staff also came after they have finished their work. not forgetting my god-mother auntie mek (pronounced mik) who came all the way from ipoh just to visit us for hari raya along with her dot dot dot and dot dot dot, in two other cars. i could say that it was her unofficial trip as there was no official protocol or what so ever. as usual, my sister came with her digital camera when we were at the dining room with auntie mek. "ahhh... this is the hardest part when ina is around", auntie mek said after a few bites of my sister's home-made muffin, followed by a quick laughed by all of us. before auntie mek went off, she gave the kids duit raya. guess what she created a new category under "unmarried" that make my unmarried sisters, brother and cousins also got the chance to receive duit raya from auntie mek and thats including me! lol... ;)

yea... my sister took most of the pics yesterday. i'll update them here after sunday 6 november 2005.

since visitors non-stop coming to our house, my sisters and cousins including me went to our grand-auntie's house later in the evening. we just visit her for the sake of meeting her for hari raya. we then adjourned to another grand-auntie's (late grand-pa's sisters) house around there too. then the last house that we went to was my dad's youngest sister. really had a heavy meals there *phew*

since we are in the millenium years, i also received lotsa raya sms'. these were part of them:

31 Oct 2005 21:55
Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin. dari zilhaziq

3 Nov 2005 08:26
Selamat Hari Raya...!!! Raya kat mana? Other fon KO. Balik t'ganu later. maybe 4th raya going up north... Will let u know... V

3 Nov 2005 09:48
... SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI... MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN ATAS APA JUA KESILAPAN YANG LALU... azah
(kuE's note: sentimentalnya bunyi...)

4 Nov 2005 15:32
Selamat Hari Raya. From Akiko.

... plus many many more. sometimes i wonder that no one seems to care about the traditional way of sending the hari raya cards anymore. for me, wishes thru cards are more meaningful. but i myself didn't have the time to do that this year. so i didn't buy any single greeting cards from my favourite gift shop memory lane. anyhow i still have to dig some from our old stocks. this is because i still received some raya cards and i have to reply them, namely to auntie gai. she was together with us during my beijing trip last august. in her card, she told me that she will be joining her son who is an accountant to riyadh (insya allah) in october 2006. i also got one card from my first bf, rizal who is now based in ipk jhb (hmm... wonder whether sheryl stumbled into him there lol...). well no matter how i will definitely reply all the cards that i have received.

kuE's note:
8/11/05 ~ uploaded 'girl cousins' pic.
9/11/05 ~ added more pics.

"malam raya"

its already +/- 4.09pm here on the eve of hari raya (eid mubarak). i need to get off early but i have to wait for my 2 staff who are at the MBB to change more of RM10 notes. malaysian people are rich what, all make payment using big notes... hah! no lar... its early of the month. on the other hand its double celebration for us rite? i.e. deepavali and hari raya. malaysia is a multi-racial country.

i am going to bring part of my staff to seri malaysia, ipoh for buka puasa tonight. half of them already went there with me yesterday. i also brought along puteri and megat together with my grandma. my auntie (her hubby passed away few years ago) and her three children reached here last nite. also my two sisters and a younger brother.

anyhow despites the busy-ness (got such word meh?!! hehe...), i asked my staff to send me to my hairdresser and i called him to fetch me when i finished. i dunno whats my puteri and megat's re-action as i haven't go back yet. i know megat will like it. puteri prefer me to have a long hair. i do wanna some changes sometimes ;)

my mom called when i was at the saloon. it seems that everyone are going to buka puasa with me too! so i called seri malaysia to let them know of the additional people coming. wow... looks like tonite buka puasa would be more havoc lol.

back at home, grandma cooked all the food by herself i.e. rendang pedas, rendang dinding and ketupat to name a few. she likes to do all that herself, without the assistance from anyone else. her cooks are the best i tell you!

again i would like to wish everyone "selamt hari raya aidilfitri". be safe on the road and always think of your loved ones.

happy deeparaya...

we would like to wish all our family & friends esp blogging friends...

HAPPY DEEPAVALI

&

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

*hugs*

kuE, puteri & megat

kuE's note: pic taken during 1st day of hari raya in 2003 :)