Cetusan hati, ilham jiwa, luahan rasa, tarian jari, sulaman kata, tersebut cerita..

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Jangan bermain api!

I should write this while it’s still fresh in my head..

We just had Fire Prevention Talk kat ofis ni. Very informative even though the speaker tu cakap broken English and menjerit.Err relevant ke komplen pasal English dia ni?? Ekekeke.. He literally menjerit while talking and I don’t know how he could actually last for an hour talk. Gamaknya dah biasa benar menjerit kot..

In summary (because I don’t intend to repeat the whole presentation here)...Fire kills. And so does smoke. Smoke kills faster than fire due to its toxicity. So all in all, prevention is the best. Things that you must have in a house are a smoke detector and fire extinguisher. Of course the quantity of those depends on the size of your house ye hadek-hadek. And another thing to have, that I have never heard off before is a smoke pocket mask. It’s actually a mask that helps to prevent the inhalation of toxic gas.

Smoke detector is best to be placed in a dining hall. Errr tapi kalau dining hall dekat beno dengan kitchen, sendiri mau ingatlah ye. Jangan sampai asal masak je smoke detector berbunyik ye. It helps a lot especially when fire happened at night and when everyone is asleep. Or even during the day, when everyone tengah kusyuk layan cite Korea ke, cite Hindustan ke hatta cite Melayu sekalipun. Cite Omputih kurang kushyuk dia.. ekekeke.. So, invest in a smoke alarm. Pastu make sure ganti bateri. A good smoke detector will give an indication bila bateri dah weak. No point of having fire alarm tapi bateri dah mampos and not functioning when you needed it most.

Fire extinguisher is best to be placed in a dining hall as well. Best to have two of it. Satu kat dining hall satu kat dalam bilik. Don’t put it in the kitchen sebab kalau api mula kat kitchen and your fire extinguisher is on the other side of the kitchen, harus kena harap yang fire extinguisher tu memadamkan api secara otomatik kan. Kalau Harry Potter lainlah.. exculus menicussssss... *sambil menggoyangkan magic wand dia* zaaaassss api padam.. kekekekeke... Errr.. itu jampi hanyalah rekaan semata. Lagi satu letak dalam bilik so that in case of fire tengah malam, senang je nak grab dalam masa pisat-pisat tu.

Fire extinguisher has its expiry date ye hadek-hadek! Sila cek expiry date extinguisher anda, kalau ada. Once expired, you have to get it replaced. I don’t know what happened kalau expired. Aku tanya presenter tu pun jawapan macam hampeh. So aku assume, pressure dalam extinguisher tu dah kuar abih lah kot kalau dah expired tu. Fire extinguisher ni is a pressurised container. Kalau pressure dah takde dalam tu, tekan macam nak mampos pun takkan kuar apa-apa from it. Kekdahnya, campak dalam api jelah kalau kebakaran ek? Get the type A,B,C and E. Aku tak ingatlah alphabet tu suma untuk apa, buat A untuk physical fire (fire on kerusi, meja, kayu etc) and E for electrical fire. Jangan sesekali simbah air pada electrical fire ye hadek-hadek! Electrocuted lak nanti!

Fire extinguisher can also be used to extinguish fire on human. I just learned that the methods that I thought can be used to extinguish fire on human actually caused harm.. don’t know if it’s “more” than just letting the fire to continue burning the person lah kan. Water, blanket, tanah are not supposed to used untuk memadamkan api kat orang. Kulit boleh lebih melecur, in a different way depending on the method used. Kalau guna blanket, blanket leh lekat kat kulit and bila nak buang blanket tu, kulit tersiat sama. Adoi! Not an option. Kalau guna air, boleh jadik blister besar dan leh affect internal organ. Not an option. Kalau guna tanah (provided leh carik tanah le kan.. takat tanah tayammum tak cukup!), leh kena infection due to bacteria and affect internal organ. Not an option. An option is to guling-guling to the left and right. Tapi kalau orang pregnant yang tak leh nak guling, berdoa je le ye.. So, the best way is to use fire extinguisher. So hadek-hadek, laburkanlah duit anda ke fire extinguisher!

Ok, next is on something that I have never heard off before but apparently is something common in Taiwan, Jepun, Australia and wherever lah. I used to think that kalau ada smoke, you wet a towel and you can breathe using the towel dalam asap. Ni suma pengaruh cite Omputih le ni. Apparently, not. And you can get burnt from smoke because smoke can be at high temperature as well. Kalau guna towel basah, you just cover your hidung and mulut. Tapi mata, rambut, muka segala still exposed. So this mask is to protect your head. You can breathe using this mask and it protects your face, hair and whatever from being burnt by smoke. I don’t know where to get it in Malaysia though.

Some tips that I learned today...
1 – If you are in a high rise building and fire is on below floors that all escape routes caught on fire, stay in the shower room. Dok dalam bathtub better kalau ada. Macam bermandi-manda time ruma terbakar gitu. And aku dok wonder bukan ke air tu boleh boil?? Kekeke.. entah.. but that was what I was told. Block all possible route for smoke, stay in shower, turn on the shower. Call 999 or 112 kalau takde credit or kalau tempat takde line. Then pray. Pray like you’ve never prayed before that someone come to rescue you on time.
2 – If you are in low rise building macam rumah dua tingkat, you can crawl out in case of fire. Asap naik ke atas. So to reduce smoke inhalation, crawl. But crawling is not advisable for high rise building where ramai orang akan bertempiaran lari. You can die due to stampede. So in high rise building, refer number 1.
3 – Before opening “Pintu Rintangan Api” to escape, touch the knob first to know whether it’s hot or not. If it’s hot, it means that fire and smoke are behind the door. So it’s not an exit option. Get the hell out of there.
4 – Electrical fire spread very quickly. Rather than run, extinguish it using fire extinguisher.
5 – Know where you put the keys to your grills.
6 – Kalau ada nak padamkan api dalam periuk or kuali or while cooking, don’t use water. Check dalam youtube kalau nak tengok apa leh jadik. Instead, wet towel and cover the top of the periuk. Or guna fire extinguisher.

Tu je kot tips that I can remember. Whatever it is, invest in good preventive measures. The talk was done by an NGO tapi diorang ni tolong jualkan barang yang pengeluar jual. Harga memamg mahal compare to other products in the market. But they are of better quality lah kononnya. Fire extinguisher tahan 15 tahun katanya. Pastu kalau dah guna, leh get them to refill for free. Oklah tu.. I bought a fire extinguisher, a smoke detector and two masks. Satu untuk aku, satu untuk lakiku. Idak boleh sharing-sharing ye mask ni walaupun sharing is caring katanya.. kekekeke.. Kalau boleh spend duit beli handbag mahal-mahal, takkan tak leh nak beli benda alah ni untuk keselamatan, kan? You can get other cheaper options out there. Whatever it is, just make sure korang get one for yourselves. Home pun kena ada, car pun kena ada sekarang ni. Belilah kat mana-mana. This is really like buying an insurance. Kalau tak terkena takpe. Kalau terkena, udah terlambat.

They showed the pictures of those who survived from fire. Sian sangat tengok. Yang tengok ni terasa sakit, apatah lagi orang yang rasa. Ada tu budak umur 2 tahun. Apalah sangat yang budak tu tau kan.

So again, I strongly urge korang belilah benda-benda ni. Put in your shopping list. If you love your family so much, this is one of the gifts that you can give them. It’s a damn bloody important investment.

Akhir kata, jangan bermain api.. kekekeke.. as if kalau tak main tak leh kena, kan? Ahak. Ilmiah? :P

Angah

Hijrah

Tahun baru Hijrah dah masuk. Kalau ikut significantnya, aku pun patut berhijrah gak. Berhijrah from bad to good. Anything to improve oneself for the better, should be considered as hijrah to me. And of course it doesn’t have to wait for the new year before hijrah can actually take place, kan?

The other day this thought came to me.. As the song says..
Satu Muharram detik permulaan
Perkiraan tahun Islam Hijrah
Perpindahan Nabi dan umat Islam
Dari kota Mekah ke kota Madinah

And my thought was.. Benonya, Nabi berhijrah exactly on the 1st of Muharram ke? The thought came to mind because the 1st of Muharram is also the first day of the moon cycle kan? So Nabi actually planned his hijrah one the first day of the moon calendar? Or, after the actual hijrah, people somehow figure out the cycle of the moon, and came with a conclusion on when to start the Hijrah calendar? Dah nak dekat 40 tahun hidup, baru ni nak terpikir. Can someone who knows about it let me know tak? Iyelah, it’s not a life and death thingy lah kan. But it’s just good to know some history. Logik jugak kalau Nabi pindah exactly on the first day of the moon cycle. Malam tu gelap sebab takde bulan. So senang nak nyorok and gerak di malam pekat tanpa bulan. Kalau 15th of moon cycle, harus dah terang benderang langit padang pasir tu dengan cahaya bulan.

So what have I done for hijrah? Nothing so far. Blurgh! Tapi malam tadi I did something that I felt good about – mengemas satu bilik dalam rumah kecik tu. Rasa bahagia lepas dah siap. Plan nak kemas punyalah lama. But never materialise due to all my alasans. Yelah, kalau nak kata takde masa langsung, tipu abih lah kan. Masa tu ada, tapi malas mengatasi segalanya.

Malam tadi, lepas Wan kuar nak gi main futsal at about 9pm, aku dok flip-flip channel tv tapi takde benda yang menarik untuk ditonton, boleh? Nak layan cerita Melayu, aku memang tak kuasa. Bukan sombong, tapi tahap leleh, tahap bodoh, tahap dengki hati, tahap kemiskinan, tahap sombong etc yang digambarkan dalam cerita Melayu selalu buat aku sakit hati. Selalu over. Ended up, aku layan Bachelorette. Nasib it’s the final episode. Not that I watched earlier episodes pun. At the same time, I picked up a novel that I am currently reading sebab bukan nak focus sangat kat tv tu pun. Tapi macam hati tak senang je tengok buku-buku yang aku beli kat BBW dulu tu, masih dok bertenggek atas my buffet cabinet sebab rak buku dah penuh. To alih the books, I have to rearrange the books on the rack. And malam tadi, somehow datang lak daya nak buat tu suma.

Dalam pada ngemas rak buku tu, aku sort out jugak some documents yang bersepah sana-sini. Lagi banyak space kat rumah tu, lagi banyak benda yang tersimpanlah aku rasa. Bagus gak rumah tak berapa nak besar ni. Aku kutip and buang benda-benda yang menyemak di mata and I ended up throwing about 2 plastic bags of stuff. It’s easy to dump things when the dearest hubby takde kat rumah. Kalau dia ada, the process will take longer. Kena argue dulu dengan dia kenapa nak buang sebab dia tu pengumpul. Kalau ikut dia, banyak nau barang yang ada sentimental value ni. Lepas dah kutip masuk plastic bags tu, aku ada hati nak buang terus ke tong sampah besar kat luar tu. Tapi sebab dah berbaju tido, tak kuasalah pulak. And it means that the dearest hubby leh selongkar semula benda yang aku nak buang tu, and some might ended up back on the rack! Urgh.

I completed everything slightly past midnight. About the same time Wan balik rumah lepas futsal and a session of gossip dengan geng-geng futsal dia. When he knew that I have thrown away stuff, mula hati dia geli-geli, boleh? Dan-dan tu dia nak tengok apa yang aku dah buang. Dan-dan tu questioned kenapa aku buang this and that. And of course, barang-barang yang dah ada dalam beg plastik tu takkan boleh dibuang keluar selagi dia tak puashati. Lantak situ lah. Janji mata aku dah clear.

But that’s just a portion of the items in the room. Ada lagi portion yang belum bersentuh. Givap aku dengan kerja-kerja mengemas rumah ni tau! Bawah katil dalam bilik tu aku dah lama tak jengok. Tu pun nak kena clearkan jugak tu. Harus aku buat time Wan takde gak tu. Kalau dia ada, harus banyaklah barang yang tak leh keluar rumah. Tapi tak tau bilalah boleh bersambung episode kemas rumah ni. Penat siot nak ngemas rumah lepas balik keje.

Aku respek gila orang yang leh maintain rumah kemas tanpa ada maid and dia bekerja. Tu yang sekarang ni, rumah aku memang konsep “almost minimalist”.. kekekeke.. nak kata minimalist, tak jugak. Banyak gak hiasan dalam rumah tu. So “almost minimalist” is the right term kot. Serabut aku dengan habuk. Tapi malas gila nak buang habuk. Camno tu?? Camnolah nak jadik a perfect housewife? Maybe I can only resort to imagining living a house, spanking clean...

Erk? What happened to Hijrah eh?

Angah

Friday, 25 November 2011

Pregnant ke?

Ini dilema semasa. Bukan, bukan aku yang pregnant. Kalau aku yang pregnant, title tu akan lebih dramatic rupanya. Ini kisah orang lain.

Aku punya staf pompuan yang ramai dari staf lelaki. Staf pompuan 5 orang, staf lelaki 1 orang. Yang pompuan ni, ada 2 orang yang tengah dalam musim mengawan dan berhasil. Yang bos dia..ish malas nak crite. Sekarang ni, sorang tengah dalam cuti bersalin. Awal bulan 12 nanti masuklah semula ke ofis. Sebelum tu, ada sorang ni yang baru balik cuti bersalin awal tahun ni. Lepas dia masuk ofis, dia pas baton kat sorang lagi. Pendek kata, dah beberapa tahun ni, aku sentiasa kekurangan staf. Aku pun sedia maklum lah kan. Sebelum cuti bersalin tu pun, staf aku ni asik cuti gak sebab mengandung. Tak boleh lah aku nak kata apa-apa. Dah bahagian masing-masing.. Ada orang mengandung takde masalah. Ada orang mengandung seribu satu masalah. Ada orang tak mengandung pun banyak masalah. Jadik redho jelah.

Tapi itu bukan dilema semasa. Tu pembuka crite.

Ini dilema semasa. Staf yang bersalin awal tahun hari tu, fizikalnya "kelihatan" seperti mengandung. Masa lepas bersalin hari tu, aku pahamlah. Sebab tak semua orang perutnya terus meleper selepas bersalin macam sesetengah artis Hollywood atau watak-watak dalam drama Melayu. Tapi setelah beberapa bulan, sekarang kelihatan perut dia tu seakan makin membesar. Pakai baju pun yang jenis cerut di bawah tetek dan kembang di atas perut yang lebih menampakkan kebesaran perut itu. Adakah dia mengandung lagi?

Ini dilema semasa. Macamana nak tanya orang, samada dia mengandung atau cuma buncit? Kalau orang yang aku biasa bertepuk bertampar, takde masalah itu. Tapi untuk orang yang aku takde bertempuk bertampar atau bercuit, bagaimanakah cara yang terbaik untuk bertanya tanpa menyinggung perasaan orang itu? Gila ah.

Ini dilema semasa. Dilema ini jugak aku alami kalau aku naik tren. Kalau yang berdiri depan aku tu perempuan, fizikalnya "kelihatan" mengandung, aku tak tau samada nak bagi tempat duduk aku aku tak. Kalau aku bagi and dia sebenarnya buncit, harus dia tersinggung tapi gembira sebab dapat tempat duduk dan aku yang penat kena berdiri tak pasal-pasal. Kalau aku tak bagi and dia sebenarnya pregnant, harus dia tersinggung dan aku terus rasa bersalah.

Jadi di sini aku rasa, kalau orang yang fizikalnya "kelihatan" mengandung, aku nak cadangkan supaya kalau berdiri dalam tren, janganlah berdiri dekat dengan tempat duduk. Nanti orang yang duduk tu rasa serba salah. Berdirilah dekat dengan pintu. Atau mana-mana pun. Kalau nak berdiri dekat dengan tempat duduk, berdirilah dekat lelaki. Sebab kalau lelaki tu bagi tempat duduk dia, itu dia "lelaki budiman".

Ini dilema semasa.

Angah

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Management 101 - Appraisal

It’s the time of the year! I have been dreading to get this done but I suppose I can’t just delay it any further. Sigh. Malas gila aku nak buat appraisal for my staff. Malas. If I leave it up to them, harus semua nak mintak promotion kannn.. hahaahhaha.. So kenaaaa gaklah buat dengan diorang.

I have 6 staff reporting to me. Yang lain tu okay je most of the time. Yang sorang ni yang agak susah. Macam-macam dia tak puashati, macam-macam dia nak, every year we talk about the same thing, and every year also the management deny her request. Aiyak. That’s why it’s fenat going through the cycle again. If only I can skip doing it..

It’s not an easy thing to be a boss. I don’t really like to be called boss actually. Macam bossy je bunyinya. Being a pompuan lak tu.. makes it even tougher. Kalau berkeras, macam queen control; kalau lembut, macam tak firm. Got to find a balance is not an easy thing. But what I always remind myself is try not to treat my staff how I don’t want to be treated. Well, it’s easier said than done lah kan. Especially bila I have to keep on repeating over and over again about something petty. Macam marahkan anak-anak buah aku yang masih belum mumayyiz lak. At the same time, I try to joke around with them so that they know that I am still approachable. I don’t want them to be afraid of asking me with their stupid questions walaupun rasa macam nak balun je bila dengar soalan bodoh. Tapi kalau aku balun dia, and they went to a wrong source and got a wrong answer, lagi payah aku kan? So layan gakkkk.. Adeh.. Lotih.

I deal with a mix of non-execs and execs staff. Dah nama pun non-execs and execs.. so there are gaps between them. The mentality is different. The way they carry themselves are different. The way they think are different. And I have to adjust my thought accordingly.

Yang non-execs, want to be execs. The management doesn’t think that they are qualified. They themselves think that they are qualified. So here I am, have to relay the message that they are not there yet. The way I see it, there are actually 2 ways to go about it – proving that you are there by actually doing something more which benefits your career and the company, and act like one. You have to convince people that you are ready. Whether you like it or not, in a corporate world, your image matters besides your performance. Not that you have to use Coach bag, pakai kasut Clarks, baju Zara, mekap Bobbi Brown lakk... It’s not the brand. It’s how you dressed up, how you speak up, how you carry yourself when you are with others. It’s a part and parcel benonya. Maybe it’s not important in a small company. But in my company, certain things matter.

Anyway, itulah masalah aku sekarang.. Nak kena appraise staff and tell them that they have a long way to go – or shorter if they really work in improving themselves.

Angah

Monday, 21 November 2011

Tanah Adat

Hari ni, mari kita belajar sejarah... Gila bosan kan blog ilmiah gini? Ekekeke.. Nasiblah kan, because I just feel like writing about it.

Tanah Adat is commonly known in Negeri Sembilan.. at least in those areas where Adat Perpatih masih lagi diamalkan or used to be ruled by Adat Perpatih. Banyak benda dah yang tak diamalkan oleh orang Nogoghi when it comes to Adat Perpatih. For example wedding.. Kalau ikut adat, ada Buapak lah, ada Perut lah ada apantah lagi lah. Aku tak tau sangat pasal adat ni in details. Family hubby aku tak layan dah benda-benda gini. Tapi aku ada kawan yang masih mengamalkan benda-benda ni. So it depends on individual and I guess which part of Nogoghi that you are in. Kalau kat area Seri Menanti tu, masih kuat lagi aku rasa adat-adat ni.

While certain adat you can get away with, pembahagian tanah pusaka ni tak leh. Not that they don’t want to. But simply because, sepengetahuan aku lah ye.. they can’t because of the title of the land. If I am not mistaken, there is akta tanah kat Nogoghi ni, yang berpasakkan Adat Perpatih. So, kalau tanah tu jatuh statusnya sebagai Tanah Adat, the way tanah tu dibahagikan tak macam hukum faraid. Boleh? Selagi undang-undang kat Nogoghi ni tak ditukar, selagi tu lah kena follow rules Tanah Adat.

The rules is such that tanah tu akan turun pada waris perempuan sahaja. Kalau orang tu takde anak pompuan, nasiblah. Makno eh, anak-anak lelaki orang tu, tak dapek do tanah tu. Tanah tu kena dibagi pada cucu dia, kalau ada, or kalau takde waris gitu, kena bagi kat sepupu or something like that. Boleh?

Long time ago, mungkin benda ni applicable lah. Zaman orang lelaki gi berperang, tinggalkan harta pada pompuan. And the basis of the law was good – to protect the women sebab lelaki boleh carik harta sendiri. But, the loophole is, kalau orang tu takde waris pompuan, gigit jari je le waris lelaki.

In the case of MIL aku, tanah kat kampung yang dia ada tu berstatus Tanah Adat. And since anak-anak dia suma lelaki, none of them can get the tanah. Boleh? Her sister lak, takde anak. Yang ada anak pompuan cuma brother dia. And, brother dia, who is my hubby’s uncle, bukannya rajin pun balik kampung. Anak-anak dia lagilah. Takat nampak batang hidung time raya or kalau ada kenduri je. Can’t blame them pun sebab kat kampung tu takde sesapa dah pun. Cuma rumah pusaka je. Yang benonya rajin balik kampung, cuma MIL aku dengan sister dia. And dalam adik beradik laki aku, dia je yang rajin balik. Dia yang sayang sangat dengan rumah kampung tu. Unfortunately, selagi law of the land tak tukar, he won’t get the land. Paling tidak pun, dalam title land tu, leh letak nama anak-anak lelaki, tapi diorang ni cuma boleh amik hasil tanah tu je kalau ada. Kalau takde, as in tanah tu ada rumah je and takde hasil, dia jadik tukang jaga rumah je lah.

Itu yang, kalau korang gi Nogoghi, you can see that there’s a lot of empty land. Terbiar. Rumah kosong, terbiar. Sebabnya, waris yang berhak or berminat kat tanah tu, tak leh dapat tanah tu. The funny thing is, katalah MIL aku ambik anak angkat pompuan, anak angkat tu leh ada hak atas tanah tu. Boleh? It’s not all that straight forward, kena masuk suku dulu or dikadimkan dululah or whatever. But still, there’s a way. Tapi dengan waris lelaki sendiri, takde cara. Kerajaan negeri pun tak leh buat apa about it. Either tak boleh, or tak kuasa nak layan lah. I don’t bother finding out about it.

So in the case of rumah kampung MIL aku ni, yang sayang sangat rumah ni is my hubby. Tapi since kitorang takde anak, so takdelah nampaknya tanah tu turun ke generasi dia. And katalah adik dia yang baru kawen ni dapat anak pompuan, maka tanah ni leh turun ke anak dia. If my BIL ni tetap tak berapa nak rajin balik kampung, and later tak rajin bawak anak balik kampung but anak tu dapat tanah kampung tu, idak ke tanah tu akan terbiar? Kalau aku pun, kau bagi tanah yang bukan tempat aku membesar, don’t know the people around me, takkan lah aku nak dok kat situ, kan? Nak jual tak leh. So kekdahnya, tanam lalang je lah. Macam rumah orang sebelah rumah kampung MIL aku.. Lalang dah setinggi bumbung rumah. Simply because, the person who inherited the house and the land, didn’t grow up in that house. Dah diturunkan ke cucu. So anak yang suatu masa dulu dok kat umah tu, tak kuasalah nak spend money untuk bersihkan rumah tu or jaga rumah tu. Yelah, bukan rumah dia kan.. no matter how sayang pun dia kat rumah tu, takkan nak spend duit untuk bersihkan rumah orang. Luas tanah rumah tu. Rumah tu pun cantik. Tapi sayang terbuang gitu je lah. Babi tanah banyaklah kat situ. Errr.. hasil ternakan lah kot? Ekekekeke...

Kesimpulannya, selagi the law of the land tak bertukar, maka problem ni will forever ada. I don’t know how and why, this part of Adat Perpatih tak leh nak diubah. Memanglah Undang berkuasa malahan lebih berkuasa dari Yamtuan, tapi kan kita ni berpandukan Islam. Sekuat mana pun Undang tu, patutnya kuat lagi hukum Tuhan, kan?

Oklah.. dah penat tulis. Ni benonya reply to those yang dok wonder apasal aku letak nama “Tanah Adat” kat gambar kat FB aku hari tu. Nak explain kat FB, penat weh. Ekekekeke...

Till then..

Angah

Thursday, 17 November 2011

Follow up

Mood nulis tak berapa nak mari but before it gets cold, baiklah aku update status lepas aku submit surat kiriman semalam.

I sent the fax out to LHDN at about 3pm kot, after I failed to get access to their website. Makcik IT gomen bagitau that server LHDN is down sebab diorang tengah dalam process berpindah ke Cyberjaya. So they don’t have access to their server even if I have their email address. Hence the fax. After the fax went through, I shot my email to Biro Pengaduan Awam (BPA) and to Biro Komunikasi Korporat (BKK). BPA is under Jabatan Perdana Menteri and BKK is under Treasury. And waited.

At about 6.30pm yesterday, while I was in a negotiation meeting, I got a call from Putrajaya. Semangat jawab.. don’t care meeting or not. Karang orang Putrajaya tak nak call aku lagi kang, payah lak. True enough it’s from BPA. Baik je bunyi budaknya. Hahahaha.. Yelah, orang Public Relations kan. Haruslah berhemah dari segi komunikasi. He wanted some explanation of the situation. And so I did. At the end of it, he mentioned to me about the movement of LHDN server to Cyberjaya. Same thing macam Makcik IT gomen *jeling Yam* tu cakaplah.. And according to him, the server will be up by 20th Nov. Tuuu diaaaa.. berhari-hari takde server, maintain good-good je, boleh? Cer company aku ni.. Server down tak sampai sejam pun suma dah restless email tak masuk, email tak kuar. Tapi diorang ni, berhari-hari pun okeh jah. Interesting isn’t it? What’s the point of having the server in the first place if you can live without out for a few days? This is not talking about website is down for maintenance or construction. This is talking about server, for communication. Entahlah, tak paham aku. Eh diverted lak dari cite asal.. Anyway, I pointed out to the BPA guy that the letter from LHDN to me was dated 20th Oct and I have 30 days to reply. So, jangan lak lepas ni aku kena penalty lagi sebab lambat reply. Mamat tu kata, takpe.. tu lain cerita lak. He told me that their normal procedure is that the agency and in this case LHDN, has to reply within 5 working days. With the server down, the reply might take a bit longer to come. Whatever it is, he would send me an email as a follow up.

Later, after I spoke to BPA, I saw that BKK has already sent an email to LHDN for them to respond. Muehehehehe.. Cekap jugaklah mereka ni memproses komplen. I take my hat off to both BPA and BKK. But the results is yet to be known lah kan.

While BKK didn’t indicate in their email to LHDN on when LHDN got to reply, BPA has given LHDN until 28th Nov to reply. To me as long as the case is settled, it’s fine with me. I think I deserve the explanation from LHDN on their actions lah kan. Kalau BKK cuma forwardkan surat aku ke LHDN, BPA lak mengarang surat, reiterated my content in their letterhead. Ganas sikit, dak? Hahahahaha.. Mungkin surat aku tanpa kepala surat tu tak cukup ganas kot? Bagus! Aku suka!

Anyway, at least for now aku dah puashatilah. I have expressed my frustration to them. How they take it is a different matter.

I think some of the improvements that they can do are:

1 – “Kemaskini” fail cukai individu within the same year or right after the individual submit the tax return. No point buat e-filing kalau suma masuk cabinet filing. Nak jadik e-govt, jadik le bebetul. Kalau tak ready, jangan proceed. Buat trial dulu. Ni dah buat e-filing dah lebih 5 tahun. Takkan ada teething problem lagi? Teething problem masa awal-awal dulu dol! And there must be a reason for e-filing, right? To simplify the process. Either that, or to main wayang kulit je. Belakang kalu, haram tak cukup trained IT people to use the system. No point of gathering data in a database if there’s no use of the data. Baik bako je!

2 – Make it a point that if LHDN doesn’t come back to the person within the same year, consider that LHDN is no longer allowed to claim anything. Barulah cekap! Ni tunggu 5 tahun. Haram jadah. Kalau budak baru lahir, dah nak masuk sekolah dah. Kalau budak dari mula masuk sekolah menengah sampai dah nak SPM dah. Kalau masuk sekolah rendah, dah nak UPSR. Kalau masuk uni, dah grad dah. Can understand tak the length it take to close the file? Bodoh.

3 – Seriously, I never knew there’s “akaun simpanan” untuk individu dalam LHDN. Got ah? Got riba’ or not? Islamic concept or not? Imagine eh.. katalah tahan duit aku RM1K, and pastu 99 others.. Kan dah RM100K kan? Kalau letak dalam fixed deposit, harus dah dapat return kan? Kalau letak dalam ASB pun dah dapat return, kan? And, since when LHDN is a profit-centre punya agency nak ada akaun simpanan bagai?? You are merely the middle person to channel the money from taxpayers to the government! Bodoh! So if LHDN actually has an account simpanan, consult the individuals first before holding back the money. It’s the individuals’ right to the money. Kalau cukai terkurang bayar, berdesup tuntut. So the same should apply. Berdosa simpan duit orang tanpa kebenaran. Masuk neraka tau!

4 – Kalau nak hantar Notis Taksiran to the individuals, take into consideration PCB that has been paid. Bodoh! Ingat tiap bulan duit aku kena tolak buta-buta tu pegi mana eh? Nak kata company aku songlap, apasal kau tak kejar company aku? And I don’t think my company does that. So, program kan system yang ada so it automatically includes PCB paid into taksiran. Camana accounts korang leh balance kalau PCB masuk tak dikira? Camana korang kira tax collected against tax return?

Cukup tak suggestions? Cukup kot.. I shall write to government on that.. Hahahaha.. Gila mabuk nak improve gomen! I can be a senator lah gini.. Muahahahahaha…

Alrighty. Cukup. Babai!

Angah

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Contoh Surat Kiriman SPM

Soalan: Tuliskan sepucuk surat aduan kepada LHDN, dan disalin kepada Biro Pengaduan yang berkenaan mengenai ketidakcekapan LHDN dalam mentaksir cukai tahunan individu.

Jawapan:


16 November 2011

Ketua Pengarah
Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia

Cawangan Wangsa Maju
Tingkat G-M & 6-10 Menara Kausar
Jalan 3/27A Seksyen 1
Bandar Baru Wangsa Maju
53300 Kuala Lumpur
Fax: 03-41427022

Ketua Komunikasi Korporat
Unit Komunikasi Korporat

Aras 2 Perbendaharaan 2
Kompleks Kementerian Kewangan
No 7 Persiaran Perdana Presint 2
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62592 Putrajaya
pro@treasury.gov.my

KetuaPengarah
Biro Pengaduan Awam
Pejabat Perdana Menteri
Blok Utama Bangunan Perdana Putra
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62502 Putrajaya
unitpro@pcb.gov.my

Tuan,

TAKSIRAN CUKAI PENDAPATAN TAHUN TAKSIRAN 2006

Merujuk kepada perkara di atas, saya Angah (K/P: xxxxxx-0x-xxxx), No. Cukai Pendapatan: xxxxxxxxxxx) ingin membuat aduan mengenai kelemahan yang terdapat di dalam sistem LHDN berkenaan taksiran cukai pendapatan tahunan bagi individu.

2. Pada bulan Mac 2011, saya telah mendapat Notis Taksiran bagi Tahun Taksiran 2005 (Rujuk Lampiran 1). Sehubungan dengan itu, saya telah pergi ke LHDN Cawangan Wangsa Maju untuk memastikan tindakan yang perlu diambil serta menyemak status cukai untuk tahun-tahun yang lain. Saya telah berbincang dengan salah seorang pegawai di kaunter dan apabila fail saya dirujuk, saya diberitahu bahawa tiada cukai lain yang tertunggak. Setelah berpuashati dengan penerangan yang diberikan, pada 6 April 2011 saya telah menghantar surat rayuan beserta dokumen sokongan yang lain (Rujuk Lampiran 2). Menurut taksiran yang dibuat, saya perlu membayar tambahan cukai sebanyak RM611.00 (Rujuk Lampiran 3).

3. Untuk Tahun Taksiran 2010, saya mempunyai lebihan kredit sebanyak RMx,xxx.xx dan di dalam surat LHDN bertarikh 28 April 2011 (Rujuk Lampiran 4), saya dimaklumkan bahawa sekiranya saya mahu lebihan tersebut dibayar balik, saya perlu menghubungi LHDN. Tiada sebab yang diberikan berkenaan perkara tersebut. Sekiranya benar bahawa “rakyat didahulukan”, maka saya pasti yang LHDN akan memastikan yang saya sebagai rakyat Malaysia diberitahu sebab yang membolehkan LHDN menyimpan lebihan kredit cukai saya di dalam akaun. Saya berminat untuk mengetahui adakah saya akan mendapat “faedah” daripada simpanan saya itu? Oleh kerana rakyat dikenakan penalti untuk pembayaran cukai lewat, seadilnya kerajaan membayar penalti kepada rakyat yang disimpan lebihan cukainya.

4. Di dalam surat yang sama (Rujuk Lampiran 4), saya juga diminta untuk mengembalikan Borang Nyata untuk Tahun 2006 untuk “mengemaskinikan taksiran cukai bagi tahun berkenaan”. Adakah ini bermakna LHDN mengambil masa 4 ke 5 tahun untuk mengemaskinikan taksiran cukai tahunan?

5. Oleh kerana saya tidak berbuat seperti yang diminta oleh LHDN dalam perkara 4 di atas, LHDN telah menghantar Notis Taksiran bagi Tahun Taksiran 2006 pada bulan Oktober yang lalu (Rujuk Lampiran 5), dan sekali lagi saya telah diminta menghantar surat rayuan sekiranya saya tidak bersetuju dengan taksiran tersebut. Di dalam Notis Taksiran tersebut, sama seperti notis yang saya terima dalam perkara 2 di atas, tiada tolakan PCB yang dinyatakan di situ akan tetapi terdapat “Penalti dikenakan di bawah subseksyen 112(3)” sebanyak RM419.40 kerana saya “gagal mengemukakan Borang Nyata dalam tempoh ditetapkan”. Jumlah cukai yang perlu dibayar menurut taksiran LHDN, termasuk penalti ialah sebanyak RMx,xxx.xx. Di dalam surat LHDN yang merujuk kepada perkara 4 di atas, tiada dinyatakan bila tarikh akhir untuk saya menghantar Borang Nyata tersebut. Adakah itu silap saya yang perlu dikenakan penalti?

6. Lanjutan kepada perkara 5 di atas, setahu saya, pada setiap bulan, majikan saya membuat penolakan ke atas gaji saya dan saya pasti bahawa tolakan tersebut dihantar kepada LHDN. Tidakkah LHDN mempunyai rekod tersebut dan seterusnya boleh menilai sebanyak mana cukai yang telah dibayar? Berdasarkan Borang EA saya untuk tahun 2006 (Rujuk Lampiran 6), PCB yang dibuat adalah sebanyak RMx,xxx.xx. Sekiranya saya mengabaikan tolakan lain yang berhak buat saya, jumlah yang saya perlu bayar hanyalah sebanyak RM21.40. Seandainya tidak termasuk penalti itu, saya mempunyai lebihan kredit sebanyak RM398.00. Mengikut logik saya, sekiranya pihak LHDN menyimpan rekod dengan betul, termasuk mengambil kira PCB yang telah dibayar dan seterusnya telah dimanfaatkan untuk kemajuan negara, LHDN tidak perlu menghubungi saya untuk menuntut cukai yang telah pun dibayar.

7. Sebagai seorang pekerja swasta, saya tidak mempunyai banyak masa terluang dan cuti tahunan untuk menyemak dokumen-dokumen berkaitan cukai yang lama, dan melawat bangunan LHDN bagi memastikan tanggungjawab yang telah saya tunaikan, diambilkira sewajarnya oleh LHDN. Oleh itu, diharap kiranya pihak LHDN dan pihak BPA menimbangkan aduan saya ini dan mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya selari dengan dasar kerajaan “Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan”.

Sekian dan tindakan serta maklumbalas yang pantas dari pihak tuan amat saya hargai untuk kepentingan rakyat dan seterusnya negara.

“Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan”.

Yang benar,



Angah
Mobile number
Email address



Ehem.. now kita tunggu je yek! Wa hati hangat. Mentang-mentang wa rakyat marhain, leh diperlekeh-lekehkan. If the answer is not acceptable to me, I will take this to Najib. I wanted to take it to Najib straight away but upon reading the Bureau's responses to other complaints, it looks promising. We'll see..

Angah

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

Visible Panty Line

Hari ini kita sentuh tentang fesyen lak adik-adik ye! Muahahaha.. I am not a Fashion Consultant ke, Image Consultant ke, hape ke and farrrrrr away from there. Idak le aku macam Farah sapa ntah tu, or Sharifah Shawati.. Idak... jauh panggang dari api! But, being a woman, it’s something that comes naturally aku rasa. So hari ni, mari kita bercakap tentang isu yang lite-lite.. semalam dah cakap pasal SPM kan.. beratttt.. so fesyen is lite-lite gitu.

Ever notice tak yang models or artists, no matter how ketat and padat the baju is, you can rarely see the panty line? Kalau tak caya, cuba lihat betul-betul masa nonton drama Melayu ke Omputih ke.. But orang kebanyakan, as in the public, almost everywhere you can see women wear pants or skirts or dresses with revealing panty line. Perasan tak? Errrr... ke aku je yang perasan? Korang tau tak panty line tu apa to begin with? Ekekekeke... For those yang tak sure, this is the definition that I took from Wikipedia.. “A visible panty line is the situation when the outline of a person's underwear is visible through the clothing. The underpants may be seen as a ridge or depression in the clothes, or as a result of the clothing material being sufficiently transparent”. Tuu diaaaa.. siap definition bagai. Dalam lite-lite, still ilmiah, hokehhh!!

Anyway.. maybe that’s just my idiosyncrasy. To me, kalau nak pakai pants or skirt or dress, make sure tak nampak panty line. Doesn’t matter what kind of panties that you wear lah kan. Idak le aku gonna describe here kan. Karang dah jadik macam kedai lingerie lak blog aku ni! Hahahah..

Even worse, kalau pants or skirt or dress yang dipakai tu, is actually from a see through material. Err.. kalau purposely memang nak tayang, lainlah. But, kalau tak plan nak tayang, to me kenalah dress up properly. At a wedding over last weekend, I saw this woman, pakai kebaya pendek with a kain yang macam pario tu.. jenis lilit je. Cantik for those yang pandai menggayakan. Unfortunately, although kain dia tu warna light brown, I could not only see the panty line, but also the colour of the underwear as well, boleh?? Aiyo womannnnn!!! Next time, kalau nak bergaya pun, be careful of all those. I think it’s embarrassing lah kan. Tapi tak taulah dia. But if her intention is lain, then maybe it suits her intention lah kot..

So, to girls out there.. be careful when you dressed up ye. It’s a basic je. To me, if you want to flaunt it, make it obvious macam Fasha Sandha tu (not that I support her lah kannnn.. it’s just an example, occayyy!!). Tapi kalau nak tutup, tutup properly. There are different type of underwear for different type of occasion and dresses. What you need to do is just choose the right one ;)

Alright. Itu sahaja. Daaaa...

Angah

Monday, 14 November 2011

SPM

Zaman sekolah dulu, SPM was like the penentu of the future. It’s like make it or break it kind of thing. Kalau tak score, maka masa depan gelap gelita gitu. And, what’s more with studying in a boarding school where competition was stiff. I am sure it’s still stiff now, or even more than it used to be then. Anyway, that’s what I thought. I wanted to be proud of myself, make my parents proud and later I wanted to go to good uni. Being 17 and having that eagerness to conquer the world, I took SPM very seriously.

The week before the SPM, juniors semua dah balik. Tinggallah batch from 5 je kat sekolah. Lagilah pressure. Dah lah tinggal sesama sendiri je, pastu tengok orang pulun study macam nak rak. Dengan buat study grouplah, revised last years’ papers lah, stay up lah, bangun awal lah.. God it was horrible! And to top it all, ada pulak yang dapat kertas soalan bocor, boleh?? Gila!

Staying in boarding school since I was in from 1, I have very limited friends outside of the school. Itulah kawan-kawan aku through thick and thin. But ada budak-budak yang masuk masa form 4, they have friends outside. And these people yang mostly dapat soalan bocor. Errrr.. budak batch masuk form 1 pun ada gaklah dapat soalan bocor. I tell you, at that time, focus dah lari. From pulun study habis-habisan, focus on those that potentially akan keluar, bertukar ke carik soalan bocor. The logic is.. kalau budak lemau, CGPA or when I was in MRSM, it was called TPMK (Timbunan Purata Markah Keseluruhan, dek non!) below 2.5, pastu leh score sebab soalan bocor, ofkos rasa tercabar kan? Acik lak memang above 3 punya student. Lagilah tercabar gitu. I tell you, at that eleventh hour, dok sibuk pikir sapa ada kawan kat luar yang ada connection untuk dapat soalan bocor, boleh??? Gila babi punya kes. Don’t ask me how the questions got bocorlah. But it did.

The exam day, of course the first paper would be BM, I tell you, the soalan was sebijik macam soalan bocor. Aku rasa ramai yang senyum-senyum je. Abih paper tu, you think ramai lagi yang ada mood nak study instead of carik soalan bocor??? Hahahahaa.. Errr.. tapi aku study gak lah. Saspen siot kalau soalan bocor yang salah. Mampos! Tapi benonya, cuma soalan BM je bocor. Yang lain, kitorang dok saspek Kementerian tau pasal tu and changed with the other sets of the soalan. Words had it that Kementerian ada a few sets of papers, just to be sure that they are covered if cases like this happened. How true it is, tak tau lak.

And, on the final day of the exam, we had to re-sit BM paper! Hampeh! I jawab BM dua kali, you! And the second time was on the 15th of November 1989.

Anyway, that was back in 1989. After that, somehow, my spirit is not as high as it was then. Don’t know where it went to. Kemalasan membelenggu diri. The spirit to challenge myself became lesser and lesser. And later in life, I learned that SPM is not everything.

There are a lot of people out there that I personally know, didn’t excel in their SPM. But they are doing very well in the real world. These people are the true survivors. You don’t need a piece of certificate to measure your success in this world. The fighting spirit is the one that does. The spirit to keep on going, and to improve oneself continuously. And that has to be coupled up with doa and restu from Allah. And also believe that rezeki itu dari Allah, kita cuma mampu berusaha and manusia cuma penyampai rezeki tu kat kita.

Okay tak ceramah akak untuk hari ini? Hehehehe.. So to those yang nak ambik SPM tu, kalau dah berusaha, bertawakkal lah pada Allah. You have done what need to be done, the rest, berserah. It should teach you for your future life.. that you have to berusaha, and after usaha, tawakkal. Not the other way round yach! Not just tawakkal lak.. Mampos tak ke mana. Hik! Pada mak bapak yang anak nak ambik SPM tu, don’t pressure them now. You should have pressured them months ago. Now is the time to face the music.

Good luck for SPM u ols!!

Angah

Friday, 11 November 2011

Lip-read

I just have to post an entry today to mark the date ;) Not that it has any significance in my life pun..

Anyway...

Have you guys seen people who lip-read tak? Lip-read as in the person is deaf, but somehow learned to talk and somehow by the gracious of Allah managed to have conversation with others? I saw this last night kat Astro Channel 711 Switched at Birth. Weekly series lah kot. Last night was the season premiere.

Of course I am amazed with the ability to lip-read. And what amazed me more if the ability to talk – as in to come out with “words” by learning to lip-read and with very limited sound that they can hear using hearing aid. And, to top that, when they talk, they talk with the accent of the people around them. I mean, those Americans will talk with American accent. They don’t talk macam Melayu cakap English. Or like English as in those from England. Pyanhabib talk like a Malay, tak macam Indon. Or macam Singaporean. Get what I mean tak? Tak rasa amazing ke?

Sound and words are different. Babies make sound. Animals make sound. Only human can say words. Ever thought of that? So for deaf people to come out with words, it’s really Allah punya kuasa. What more macam Helen Keller tu kan. For those yang tak tau sapa Helen Keller tu.. she is deaf AND blind. How? Oh God aku sungguh respect manusia camtu. Aku sungguh respect the parents who brought them up and taught them what need to be taught in this world. I once saw a documentary about this woman who is deaf and blind. There’s actually a centre in US that helps this people. Aku tak ingat apa nama centre tu, tapi ada nama Helen Keller lah. This woman “learned” sign language. Exactly how eh you learn sign language when you don’t even know what that sign is for? If the sign means “you”, how do you get the message to her that it means “you”? Aiyoooo!!! So anyway, she learned sign language and when people communicate with her using sign language, she will hold the person’s hand/fingers to understand what the person is talking about. Gila punya amazing! The centre also taught her and the people like her to be independent. She hangs a sign on her neck mentioning that she’s deaf and blind, so when she wants to cross the road, someone will actually pimpin her hand and help her to cross. Touching!

Anyway, that’s just some thought that I had from watching the episode last night. It’s about 2 girls who were accidentally switched at birth and was brought up by 2 different families with different status. Satu rich satu not-so-rich. One of them happened to become deaf when she was 3 due to meningitis. Her birth parents are rich but the mother who raised her up is a single parent who is not-so-rich. Interesting story lah of how these families cope with the differences and adjusting to the newly found fact.

Okeh, back to today’s date.. Nothing special. It’s just another date.

Happy weekend people. Acik nak balik Pilah malam ni. Ado wedding esok. Nikah eh hari ni. Ngojar tarikh ni lah..

Angah

Wednesday, 9 November 2011

On reducing government employees

Lama dah aku tak membebel, kan? ;)

I heard something about pembangkang wants to reduce the number of government employees if they ever naik takhta kerajaan. And, of course, since the words came from pembangkang, orang gomen melenting.

The way I see it, kerajaan has to take it positively lah. Pembangkang is there for the check and balance. I think even Mahathir said that before, somewhere, and I read it. I can’t recall where though. To me, kalau takde pembangkang, maka jadiklah semua MP or Ministers besar kepala. And I can’t imagine how they are going to rule the country. A simple example is how Astro dominate the satellite tv market in Malaysia. Diorang cekik darah pun, telan jelah. Of course the obvious option is not to subscribe to them lah kan? But since it’s a luxury that we want to have, telan je cekadak diorang tu. Another example is Maxis and Celcom. They used to dominate the market and can tarik harga sesuka hati. But when the market is now populated with other competitors, barulah they get reasonable. Errr.. get my comparison or not?? Hahahaha.. Ke comparison syok sendiri tuh?

Being kerajaan, it doesn’t mean that you have to deny all pembangkang punya statement. Or rather that’s what I think. At least evaluate lah dulu their points. Ni bukan bahas Piala Perdana Menteri where you have to object segala yang pembangkang kata. Nilai dulu the value of the statement then baru bangkang semula. Do you really think that the government employees sekarang tak cukup kakitangan kah? Do you really think that all of them are fully utilised up to the optimum kah? Have you ever done a survey on that? Have you actually checked the work and the quality kah? Have you actually go round every desk and see them at work all the time kah? I bet you, kalau gomen staff suma kena pakai baju batik hari-hari, maka kelihatanlah mereka bertebaran di kedai mamak, di Alamanda dan bermacam-macam kedai lagi during office hours. I am pretty sure of that.

I am not asking for retrenchment. I am asking for a more efficient government. Kalau staf melambak pun, tapi keje lembab nak mampos, tak guna gak.

Erk.. tu jelah bebelan aku. Bebelan ilmiah gitu.

Angah

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Salam Aidiladha

Officially, 10 Zulhijjah begins after Maghrib on the 5th of November. So, practically, the second half of my birthday tahun ni is on Aidiladha lah kan? ;-)

After Maghrib tadi, saat orang mula bertakbir (or rather saat tv mula show orang takbir), hati aku terasa sayu lak. Entah nape. Nak kata sebab ada kat Pilah instead of with my family, tak gak. Sayu, not to the point yang aku nak nangis. Sayu as in terasa sangat macam bilaaaaaalah aku nak dapat buat haji. I am not talking about going for umrah. I am talking about haji.

Mungkin sebab tahun ni, ada 3 orang batchmate aku masa kat sekolah dulu pegi haji. All of them are girls. And aku memang teringin nak pegi haji soon. Kalau boleh hati ni teringin nak kejar time haji jatuh towards end of the year, where dengan izin Allah, cuaca agak lebih merciful as compare to the middle of the year. Yelah, iman nipis. Aku ni tahap ngukur iman di badan sendiri nih. Kalau orang yang iman dia tebal, I am very sure they don't bother when they actually perform the haj. Unlike me.

All these while sepanjang hidup aku, aku dok ingat nak travel to all other places, but haji. Sanggup simpan duit sebab nak tengok dunia. Little did I care about my plan for haj. Hari tu baru aku terfikir.. Kalaulah dari aku mula keje dulu, aku simpan RM50 tiap bulan untuk gi haji, setahun dah ada RM600. Memang sikit. Tapi kalau dah sepuluh tahun keje, tak ke RM6,000? Kalau dah 15 tahun keje, tak ke RM9,000? It's just right untuk pegi haji, kan?? Tulah kan.. dulu tak beringat untuk saham akhirat. Saham duniaaaaa je. Now ni, dunia pun tak terkejar, akhirat apatah lagi. Tu yang sayu tu kot..

So now ni, kalau aku nak gi haji soon, kenalah jump queue and to do so, the best thing is to get a package with higher price than the normal haj package. Adeh.

Anyway, that's just my feeling about haji ni.

Doa aku di hari orang wukuf di Arafah ni, moga dengan izin Allah, aku dan Wan dapat gi haji in the near future. Amin.

Salam Aidiladha.

Angah

It's my birthday!!

It's my birthday!! :) I have seen the world for 39 years. And at the same time, I have reduced my lifetime by 39 years.. if you want to look at it from a different perspective lah..

My achievement so far? Kalau ikut kayu penyukat dunia, tak banyak. Kalau ikut kayu penyukat akhirat lagiiiiiiiiiii jauhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Nonetheless, alhamdulillah with what Allah has given me. Ramai lagi orang yang lebih susah daripada aku kat luar sana and I should always remember to be grateful for what Allah has given me. Lahir sempurna, and until now masih sempurna. Lahir suci, and now... errr... usah le kabo ye! Muahahahah..

My wish on this day.. Moga Allah memberkati usia aku, moga aku dapat menunaikan haji secepat yang mungkin (errr.. harus lah kena lupakan London, New York, Paris segala nih!), moga aku terus menjadi isteri yang mentaati suami, moga aku rajin menunaikan kewajipan seorang Islam, moga Allah lapangkan pintu rezeki aku sekeluarga. Amin ya rabbal alamin.

Angah

Friday, 4 November 2011

New York.. New York..


Ehem. Some of the pictures when I was in New York. New York, u olsssss...!! My hubby was there as well and the only person missing was Joe! Damn you were missed. Time and time again we wish that you were there as well. How wonderful it would have been, kan?


Angah

Derita dalam bahagia?

Bear with me, okay. I am in the mood to write. It has been ages since I poured myself out here. And I am sure u ols miss me, kan? ;)

I came across this someone's blog recently. She is in her second marriage. Prior to that, her first marriage lasted for 15 years. To me, 15 years is a damn bloody long time, don't you think? And, to be married to someone for those long years, I am sure it accounts for something. I am sure there was love. I am sure there were good times. I am damn sure of that even though I was not in the marriage. Let's face it.. otherwise, the marriage would have ended like.. only in 12 days, right? Tu baru lah leh kata takde cinta ke, tertipu ke, tak bahagia ke.. But after 15 years?

Where am I going with this ek? Actually, in the blog, she sort of saying that she had wasted 15 years of her life. In a way, the way I interpreted it, she regretted being married to the ex. Fair enough if she wants to hate him for whatever that happened that led to the divorce. But I feel like it's unfair to say that she has wasted her life. Come on lah.. takkan baru tersedar after 15 years? Unless kena ubat guna-gunalah.. Yelah, it's her life. She can feel whatever she want to feel. Who am I to say anything to begin with.

Erk.. again.. where am I going with this ek? Just to remind myself. Life has its ups and downs. When it is up, treasure it. When it is down, face it but don't dismiss the good things. It's just too easy to look at the bad side of things and forget on the good things.

Tu je lah.

Angah

It's all about reading

I always loveeeee books. Loveeee reading them. Errr... certain book though. Idak le suma buku aku suka baca, kan ;) And, I think it has a lot to do with the way I was brought up. The way Abah tried to inculcate the reading habit into all 5 of us. Well, unfortunately the habit only sticks with me. But hey, the success rate is already 20%, right? Oklah tu.

When we were young, Abah used to take us almost every weekend to the Perpustakaan Bimbingan Kanak-Kanak, along Jalan Tun Razak, where IJN now sits. I just love the library. I can be lost in it, so greedy and undecisive on what to read within the limited time that I had there. Later, had difficulty in choosing the books to borrow. Lucky for me, the other 4 didn't bother much about the books. They were too busy playing in the playground outside the library. Since everyone was entitled to borrow 2 books each, I had the luxury to choose most of them. Heaven gila!

Balik rumah, Emak would have tough time with me because I would then get buried in the books and didn't bother helping her with the house works. Heh! Dasar pemalas kannnn!!

All these were back then, during my pre-school era, I think. Or at least until I was in Darjah 1. After that we moved to Cheras and at that time Jalan Tun Razak macam jauh sangat dah nak pegi from Cheras as compared to from Ampang. Back then lahhh.. now semua tu tak relevent dah.

And looking back, I am glad Abah took all the time and trouble to do what he did. He is not a visionary, but at least he had that vision.

It's sad to see that my nephews and nieces don't have such habit. Asik ingat nak mainnnnnnn je 24 jam. Asal celik mata, main. Nak tutup mata pun main lagi. And because the parents don't have the habit, anak-anak pun tak boleh nak ngikut. Kids learn from what they see. Not so much from what they hear. During their development, speech understanding comes much later. They imitate what you do much earlier before they can imitate what they hear. So parents, if you want your kids to behave, you have to behave first. Ingat? Muehehehe..

Until now, kalau masuk kedai buku, I can be lost as well. Maybe not as lost as I was before but still.. deciding on which book to buy can be tough. Books are expensive here. I loveeeee the smell of books.. the smell of kedai buku. I don't know how to explain the smell, but it's just the same smell if you go to every kedai buku. Errr... kedai buku yang hapak tu tak termasuklah ye. I am talking about good kedai buku je ni. Same goes with magazine I suppose. Nampak, suma nak beli. Pastu, rasa macam rugi because I don't know what to do with the huge stack that I have at home.

So the other day, masa pegi books fair BBW kat MAEPS tu, I tell you.. Gila!!! Dahlah pegi lepas keje, and when I reached there, tolak waktu solat maghrib, dah tinggal sejam setengah je to spend dalam hall yang ada beribu buku! I tell you!! Tamakkk halobaaa melanda diri! Kata laki aku, I walked sooo fast, much faster than him. Dia kata macam aku nak gi shopping kat factory outlets lak. Hahahaha.. Well, sikit lebih kurang, dak? Dia tak tau yang I felt like running to reach the hall from the parking lot! It gave damn good deal that I just simply grabbed the books that I want without thinking much. Gila.. buku yang normally RM35 jadik RM8 je. Banyak tu diskaun! Sebab satu malam tak cukup masa, we went there 2 nights in a row. Puashati! Hahahaha.. My only regret is that I should have gone on the first day. Manalah tau kot-kot there were other books that I could have bought but dah gone by the time I went there. So next time.. got to remember that!

Now, we have a stack of books at home. Don't know where to put because my book rack is already fully occupied. Nak buang buku lama, sayang. Nak donate, don't know where to donate. And I am picky about where I want to donate the books to. I don't want to simply donate the books and then the books will be left untouched or ignored or hancur. I can't tolerate that. That's my rule on books. My books, especially the novels, are nicely wrapped. Wrapped as in wrapped with a stick-on plastic wrapper. The covers look like they are laminated. And, no one shall flip the pages to mark, or make any mark on the book. Oooooo tu pantanggggg!!! Cannotttt!!! That also, I learned from Abah. Kepantangan Abah kalau tengok kitorang conteng buku sekolah, hatta making any notes relevant to what being taught. To him, that's what note books are for. Horror tak?? Hahahaha! So, kalau Abah nak inspect buku sekolah kitorang, kenalah segera padam mana-mana yang berconteng kalau tak nak kena dengan Abah.

Books that I am reading now? I am finishing a book by Chris Manby. I just love the way she writes. Funny. Light reading. Girlish. I love chic-lit kind of books.

Errr.. above all.. Quran.. how? Baru semalam Wan cakap kat aku.. We should be reading Quran more often lah. Which is true. Oh so true. Why malas? Blame it on the setan-setan around. But more so blame it on diri sendirilah kan. Can't blame the parents or anyone else. Abah Emak rajin je baca Quran. Anak ni je malas. Alasan? Got plenty *icon setan bertanduk*.

I soooooo need to get my priority right! Sigh!

Angah

Lihatlah donia....

Peopleeeee...!!! Muehehehe.. As if banyak people yang baca blog aku dak? ;) Doesn't matter. At least, today, I have managed to change the look of the blog! Setelah berkurun tak berupdate dan tak bertukar kulit, finally it gets the most deserving transformation. Hopefully, with this, my mood to blog mari gaklah kan. Kalau maintan sama gak, ehem.. no point salin kulit dak?

Okeh. Tu je nak update pun!

Angah