Happy new year

This year (2012) has gone by really fast. Quite a few eventful happenings. Hopefully the coming year will see some improvements. We can hope, plan and do but God is the only One to approve.

Happy new year to all - may Allah bless us all.

Sad day

It is a sad day today. God only knows. Even the heavens are casting a gloomy shadow in the skies. Tears of raindrops are falling - soaking through the skin and chilling my bones.

I stand all alone in the middle of the vast fields; not a soul in sight except for the occasional runner or dogwalker going on their lonely trek. It is morning but not so early. Strange for a city full of souls.

Today marks the beginning of a new era. Things change; yet you must go on. Accept that mistakes are often made; nobody infallible except Allah.
 

Blame the boffin who interpreted the end of the world because the Mayan calendar ended. Maybe the next 5000 year calendar got destroyed or taken away with the Mayans when they disappeared.

Why is today a sad day? Ask the Mayans...
 

 

Oops.... the Mayans are not around any more so I'll answer for their behalf.

 

1. 5000 down, another 5000 to go. It's not easy to create a 5000 year calendar; not like nowadays where you can cut an paste.
2. The boffins have re-scheduled doomsday. It's now Christmas eve. 

 

 

 

same spot, different time - part 2

location : Bakewell & Monsal Dale, Peak District, Derbyshire. 

apa yg ada kat Bakewell even tho its just a small town? ada  Bakewell Tart yg manis sesangat tapi sedap..so different from the ones elsewhere or Mr Kipling's.

our first visit in 2008. adik was almost 1 yr old still in her push chair, big missy still bawah ketiak mummy, stomach bone daddy was comparatively small.

 one year later - adik dah tak suka duduk dlm push chair, kakak was still shorter than her aunty yan who's just 5'0" tall.

 2 years after.. kakak was as tall as mummy. stomach bone daddy got bigger but hidden under his jacket, mummy's face also rounder.

usually lepas pergi Bakewell, we drove to Monsal Dale just 2 miles away from Bakewell. from the carpark at the top, we have to walk down a mile to get to Monsal Weir.

 

location : Glen Coe Visitor Centre, Scottish Highlands

sememangnya every easter break pergi scotland, mcm balik kampong. and we usually spend 1 week every year at different regions.

pic below was our first easter break in scotland in 2008. adik was just 14 months old, ramai orang ingat she's a boy despite we dressed her in pink. kakak's cheeks macam tomato, mummy was still a size 10.

3 years later..kakak is taller than mummy, adik looked so girly and mummy is a size 12, daddy's hair was covered in snow! 

12.12.12, 20.12.2012, 21.12.2012 and the Mayan prophecies

Alamak - salah date lah!

Some people said 12.12.12 was an auspicious date, however it's true value was tainted by the 20; i.e. 12.12.2012 so in real terms not so beautiful.

20.12.2012 is a much better date as it is a repeat of the numbers 20122012 or earlier this year in February - 21022012.

Anyway, all that doomsday talk - if you really wanted to see if the world is ending (as per the Mayan calendar), you shouldn't look for signs in New Zealand. After all, the Mayans "predicted" it - wait until 21.12.2012 dawns upon the Mayan capital (in South America - not New Zealand) unless you're a Hobbit from Middle Earth.
For all you know, the Calendar maker:

1. Got tired and decided, enough is enough
2. Found out that there wasn't a market for 5000 year calendars
3. Suffered RSI (Repeatitive Strain Injury) repeating about 5000 year's worth of dates
4. Decided to take a break, and never really got back to it because after all, it was just a hobby
5. Couldn't count pass 5000 years

If you truely believe it, then may God have mercy on you.

Enjoy life, be thankful to Allah and in the words if Bill S Preston, Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan - Be excellent to each other....

same spot, different time - part 1

ni our favourite posing spot at Stapleford Country Park. atas suggestion my cousin Nik Dy, i collated all the pics (ni je yg boleh recall) taken at the spot to see how the kids grew and the parents aged over the years hehe..

first pic taken in sept 2007 at Atan's 1st birthday party. adik was only 7+ months old, kakak just turned 8 & mummy was a size 10 ..

 a year later..

 this was taken in sept 2012, at Atan's 6th birthday party. kakak has towered over mummy & daddy.. and mummy is a size 12 and tactic letak adik on her lap to cover her bulat-ness, !! banyaknya silver thread on daddy's head..

kamar said "kalau nak slim balik to size 10, kena beranak seorang lagi.." cos i lost weight after every birth. biarlah daddy, tak kurus pon tak pe..hahahaha!!

good news day

good or bad news makes a lot of difference to everyone i guess, me especially.

today, PMR results were out. Tasha (Yan's daughter) and Ameer (ann's son) were the candidates this year. Ann wrote on her wall that Ameer got good results; as expected. both her boys are bright lads. i text yan in the morning but she didnt reply so i called instead. Alhamdulillah Tasha excelled in the exam, much to her parents surprise. teruk betul kawan i ni, suka sangat underestimate her girl. she worked hard but she was so cool.  so cause for a celebration kan?

 i know yan is going to kill me if she finds out i posted the pic below. too bad yan, its my blog and i can write/put any pics if i want to and i'm just so happy for tasha, you, hasni, putra & haris.

 

later on in the afternoon, i found out my close friend Ida dah balik from mission in Palestine last week.  imagine how i felt when i first got to know she was going to Palestine, dah lah tau last minute. "Jazaakumullah khair kasiir everyone for yr du'a and jempols. BaarakAllahu feek for the beautiful post.. terkedu dan sebak seketika".

Alhamdulillah she got home safe & sound. she said she wanted to update me on some news at a later date. and of course me being impatient, suruh dia pm cepat2. string of messages were exchanged and i got tired of typing so i decided to call her instead..was so happy to hear her voice and thrilled of her good news. Alhamdulillah, syukur. good things come to those who wait...patiently. when kamar got home from work, i told him and he said "iya? thats good!" our du'a goes to you darling..

age test

kamar showed me this earlier..whoever yg se-angkatan with us should know the connection in a split second unless you are in denial BIG time!

 

 

Still and Hello made me cry

malam yg ditunggu dah tiba. his concert was supposed to be in October but was postponed to December due to health problem. but it was worth the wait.

for someone who's 63, he is indeed a legend; just like Rod Stewart who's 2 yrs older than him. i started listening to his songs since he was in The Commodores and when he went solo, never had enough of his ballads.

he sang almost all his hits - 3 times a lady, still, easy, endless love, hello, penny lover, say you say me, dancing on the ceiling, brickhouse, all night long, ballerina girl, my destiny, running with the night, sail on and finished off with Goodbye.  he missed out truly-one of my ultimate fav..

towards the end of the concert, his 2 teenage daughters went up the stage and the 3 of them did "Gangnam Richie" style..that was so cute !!

it was certainly a nite for me to remember...

next concert would be Il Divo & Katherine Jenkins in April 2013..we shall go classical!

for my cousin Ji @ cake classes, these are the pics as promised..

 

 most of the audience are in their 40s or older. mana yg muda2 tu, datang accompany parents!!

xmas sing 2012

just been to lil missy's Year 1 xmas sing. only Foundation classes yg buat nativity play which she did last year.. ada 2 sessions - 9.30am and 2.30pm. bila hantar dia kesekolah this morning, met up with our "usual school run moms & dads - parents of anya, lyla, eden, emma"   who all decided to go  for 9.30 show. we had coffee & mince pies at THE DEN - school's breakfast club. Simon, emma's dad a banker who works mostly from home  and live few houses away from us; belanja semua orang this morning. rasa macam happening sangat kan?? maklum lah we are group of parents who are deprived of social life hahaha..

we then moved to the multipurpose hall - situ lah buat concert/play/events, situ lah jugak kids have their lunches and also teachers-parents evening. its a small school compared to sekolah kat msia but its one of the most sought after & over subscribed schools in notts.

kids practised  singing 10 songs for just a couple of weeks and it went really well. bless them!!

the kids from 4 classes in Year 1

 
 

2 peas in a pod

these two are my beloved uncles. bukan tak sayang uncle2 yg lain but these goonies are very significant in my life history as a married woman.

going back 15 years ago, i consulted the one on the right before accepting the marriage proposal from a man whom i knew only for 3 months.. my uncle  Nik Aman & Kamar were Alam Shah old boys and Nik Aman was one year Kamar's senior. he described Kamar as "budok jjughuh"; literally translated to bahasa kebangsaan as "nice kid".  

after accepting the proposal, i took Kamar to meet with the one on the left - my Ayah Cik Nik Adnan who's more like a father to me. he was the first person in the family whom i introduced my future husband to.  my cousin Noreen had this to say "I remembered the day you came over to introduce. Bukak pintu je kak noni dah bagi disclaimer". so like me kan!!! apakah disclaimer itu??? its between me & Noreen..

love you both to bits.. God Bless

flash backs

i'm one person who is a sucker for reminiscing the "good old days" (sometimes the bad ones too) and i appreciate long term friendships. and i have friends from different phases of my almost half centurian life. and thanks to fb, i got to rekindle friendship with old schoolmates.

being born & bred and raised by my grandparents, i went to primary school in P.Mas where i met friends like  Chomin (me & sally call her Nejar = Manager cos she was made an MD at a very young age), Datin (or to us still Mek) Za and Teacher Sally. sebab tak berapa pandai, i couldnt get into boarding school like the others, so my dad decided to take me & my sister to live with them in KT, masuk SSSS - a semi boarding school. my sister, kak ming who's 2 yrs older than me enjoyed staying at the hostel and survived till form 5 but i just hated it and after few months, balik duduk rumah and commute to school on Van Sekolah Pak Ali yg kaler biru. the thing is rumah to school was only few miles away so it didnt make sense nak duduk hostel kan? dont know what arwah my dad was thinking then.

masa kat SS, i befriended a group of girls from my class - Leela, Simi, Sharifah Hidayah (Sipoh), Wan Fatimah (Timoh), Zarina (Na Lonjong) to name but a few and i still remain in contact with some of them. i used to go to Simi's house for maths group tuition. dah lupa nama cikgu tu. my years in SS was cut short when my father passed away when i was in Form 3.  Simi's father Dr. Dharam Singh attended to my dad when he was in the hospital.  mom had to go back to P.Mas and sementara tunggu nak exam  LCE (yessss...last batch LCE in 1977, then changed to SRP, now dah jadi PMR) i stayed with my foster parents - arwah father's close family friend and continued going to the maths tuition at Simi's. i owe it to Cikgu Nordin, our sejarah (& english) teacher for all his kind arrangements, not many people knew this and  not sure if he remembered it though. apa2 pun Cikgu Nordin, JASA MU DIKENANG. jadi orang jugak akhirnya anak murid cikgu ni ya.

i went back to Pasir Mas for Form 4 & 5 and off to ITM & Scotland and the rest as they say, is history.. since leaving SS in 1977, i lost touch with the girls but thanks to fb, dpt lah jumpa balik virtually.  Sipoh came with her family for cuti2 UK last year and dropped by at our place sekejap for tea & biscuits. balik baru ni nak jumpa Timoh pun tak sempat. next time insyaallah. few weeks ago they had a re-union, dapat lah tengok gambar old friends and teachers.  they look great, bless them all.

photos hijacked from Sipoh's fb. sorry tak mintak prior permission..

 L-R : Sipoh, Leela, Timoh, Simi. honestly mula2 tgk gambar, hardly recognised Simi & Leela.

the ever glamorous Sipoh & Cikgu Nordin - macam Amitabh Bahchan (betul ke spelling ni..) kan?

12/12/12

winter is officially here. its been frosty for few days/nights in a row, temperature dropped to subzero.
after the trip to Huddersfield yesterday, i honestly couldnt be bothered to go to the office today, stayed home & did some marking.

walked to the park after sending lil missy to school and back in after 1 hour. nothing's better than a cuppa tea, few slices of buttered toasted brioche (roti naik) and Bird's caramel bun after that walk.

here are some pics of freezing, frosty, foggy morning at the park.

 frozen lake

 gossip apa tu??

 my reindeer

 

 

Frosty nights

It's zero degrees right now and the roads are so frosty you'd think that it had snowed.