Tsunami & the Big Three Oh

Assalamualaikum & Goodday

Ekceli kan petang tadi aku dah post dah entry nih. Rupa2nya ada title je, content tak kluar pon. Hampeh ponye PC. So here i am, doing it all over again :P

Yesterday, marked the 3rd year since the infamous tsunami. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India & Sri Lanka were caught offguard. Many perished and hurt. Loses were in billions especially in Indon. Government had to fork up millions of ringgit to provide compensations and rebuilding programs. The victims' families, i'm sure can still feel the agony of this unfortunate tragedy whenever 26 December comes. So, today i'd like to convey my deepest condolence to those affected families. Be strong....

Yesterday, also marked my 30th year of existence in this world. Yup people, i am now the proud new member of the '30 something club' :) i tot i'd wake up and feel miserable. Surprisingly, i wasnt. Being 30 is not that bad huh.

Being 30 and all, got me to thinking. After all these years, what have i achieved? Am i an underachiever or am i doing just well?

During my younger days, i used to say that i will own a bmw 7 series once i reached 30. But now, that seems to be out of my reach. So the question now is, does my failure to own the bmw make me a loser? a tough one to answer eh.

Then i realized that life dont usually go as we planned it. Therefore some alterations had to be made to our goals in life to adjust to the constantly changing surroundings. Sometimes we even have to totally let it go because it has become irrelavent. Sounds familiar ? :)

Why do we do this? The only answer that i can think of is that we are just merely trying to survive. There's nothing wrong in surviving isnt it? And i also strongly believe that surviving is definitely not a sign of losing. There is always a blessing in disguise. We only need to be a little bit patient.

But for the record, i am happy with my life. Sure i did lose some here and there, but i also gain even more than i've ever hoped for. So my point is, never give up hope, have faith in whatever you are doing, never give up on your families and friends, and most importantly never give up on Allah. I believe that if we could will this, then we will understand that there's always something for everyone. We just need to find it.

Good Luck finding it peeps. May Allah be with you.

Clarification on Chennai Trip

eheheheh.....

Sometimes i forgot that i'm a gomen servant. in a way, anything i do will reflect the gomen too.

Aje made a good point by saying that the trip was a waste of tax payer's money. I did reply on this in the comment section, but i then realized that some people dont read that section.

Anyways, i felt obligated to clear the air, and here is the explanation. FYI, the gomen didnt spend a single sen for the trip to chennai bcoz we were there by invitation. The big spendor was the company who invited us there. so the trip is kinda like a trade mission lah.

We were treated so generously becoz they see us as deemed investor, this is a normal practice lah. Even us treat our deemed investors like that.

So hope this will clarify everything eh. dont wori, the gomen oredi has a policy on oversea trips, and it's not so generous lah :)

Chennai Roti Canai

Assalamualaikum & Goodday

Last week i was in chennai for 3 days. A WORK visit. So less leisure :P Anyways, to pen down everything would be boring and long, so i decided to only publish the highlights of the trip:

The flight to chennai was only 3 hours.

I found out that they dont have Roti Canai in Chennai. They said that roti canai is from Malaysia not India :)

For the first time, i dont have to wait long for my passport to be stamped at the immigration counter. Pakai diplomatic lane tuuuu.....perghhh dengan selambenya we cut through all the people. From their expressions, i could sense a mixture of envy and awe.

Stayed at the Taj Coromandel, some say it's a 7 star hotel, some say it's a 5 star hotel. but i think it's a 5 star lah. Anyways, the rate per nite is rm 1,400.00. Bleh?? It was my first time in a luxury hotel and hopefully it'll not be the last.

We travel by three cars, mercedez s 320. felt like celebrities lah. N we got the local police to plough the traffic for us. Hmm...senangnya hidup.....:)

The indians, they are suicidal drivers i tell you, i think they dont have traffic rules lah. The traffic lites are just for deco je kot. Nobody bothered to even look at them.

The indians, the are animal lovers, just imagine they have cows resting on the dividers. Not just resting, they do their 'business' there too. The cows are so lazy that they do their business while laying down. Horrible mannn.... i cannot imagine if we have this scenario in jalan tun razak. mau havoc satu kl :)

On the 2nd day, as we were going out thru the hotel gate, we saw this one guy sleeping on the sidewalk, he had NO pants on. N before you ask, nooooo, i didnt bother to look. N when we got back that nite, he was still there. Only now he was nearly entirely naked. Still laying down on the sidewalk. That's life huh.....

For the first time in my life i had lobster for lunch. Yup, that's rite folk, never had one before. I'm not that rich lah :) But offcourse, I'm always thankful for what I had and have. Only now, I'm more thankful. Alhamdulillah....

Dinner on the 2nd day was very late. Nearly 11 pm. I was so eager to eat. But got shut down when i found out that they served vege food. I hate vege food. But then, it's a rezeki rite. So just belasah je lahhh....to console myself, i imagined that i was eating a BigMc.

My boss gave me some money to spend, but ironically, we only had 45 minutes to spend for shopping. So nothing for me (as usual). But mama and alif got a LITTLE something lah (notice the little is in caps ;) ). N offcourse i bought something for my staffs.

The flight home was better for me as i was upgraded to Business Class. Thanks to Cik Wan from our consulate in chennai. Thanks again cik wan. It was my first time too. Mannn....asek makannnn je. i had apple juice first, then they served satays, but i didnt touch it coz i dont like satays, rugi eh. Then they served salads and after that the main course lah. In between, they gave us salted peanuts. By the time i finished, it was 40 minutes away from touch down. perghhh....memang gemuk la kalo salu naik business class nih.

So i guess that's about everything lah. I know, that some of you have had much much better experience than mine. Not to brag or anything. But, you know, just to share something about my life lah :)

Satu je yang kurang about this trip. No pictures. Tak sempat nak snap. Ada tu ada tapi senget. Nyesal aku suruh orang tu snap. Overall, i'm so thankful to God for giving me this opportunity.

Ye la kan, nak pegi sendiri, memang belum tentu. hopefully one day, aku ada cukup duit untuk bawak mama, alif (and baby) naik first class and hotel yang best. tak aci la kan, aku sorang je merasa. insya allah, one fine day nanti.

Anyways, today is our 4th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mama!!!! Thanks for everything. I'll always be 'Mad About You'. This year is kinda special coz we're expecting our 2nd baby. Insya allah by 31 December 2007, we'll be upgraded to a family of four. Hopefully, everything is going to be fine. Still got the shivers mannn....

Overdue

Assalamualaikum & Goodday

Aku kena marah dengan Amy :) Dia suruh aku update blog. ehehehh....it's a good thing thou, it shows that my blog is ekceli being read by my frens. thanks amy. appreciate it.

ekceli kan, i have drafted at least 5 entries, but never been able to finish it! yup, i'm that busy :P but to blame it solely on work pon not fair lah. tipu la kan sampai takde masa langsung.

i got timeeee (iklan astro), but i just dont have the right time to post. u know lah, to post an entry u really need to have a clear mind. i just dont have that kind of luxury anymore.

i always got stuck midway coz suddenly i remember that i had to call someone la, i forgot to look at a file la etc etc.....

but the truth is, i'm not so happy la lately. why? for 2 reasons...i really miss my nz gang and this job of mine is a lonely job. for a certain reason, i dont get to share my problems with my frens here in ipoh. i think it's best for them and myself. dont get me wrong, they are good and nice people, but the problem is, we are not that close yet as compared to my nz gang.

as for the nz gang, these guys, they know me inside out oredi. when we go for lepak, i dont even have to tell them my problems. just being with the guys, solve half of my problems oredi. best eh....i think mebbe bcoz when i'm with them, i get to really laugh....u know yang jenis sampai macam nak putus tali perut tuh....betulll.....i'm not lying mannn...kalo tak caya tanya zid :)

so, this is my dilemma. i'm not happy and this leads to my inability to post an entry. ehehehh...ok tak reason aku :)

but next week i'll be going to kl. hmm....mebbe can stop by to meet frens. see how lah. tungguuuuu......