Just got back from Subang Permai. And with that comes the sudden realization that you're not free yet - you've got some laundry to take care of!
Crap.
And the fact that you have a semi-auto washing machine does not help either.
Major Crap.
And slowly I'd drag my ass off of my bean bag and slowly plunder through the luggage and lazily put it in the washing machine. If only we had them automatic ones I thought to myself.
No pain, no gain. Or in our case - gain first, pain comes later on.
The weekend getaway at A Famosa had gone smoothly I suppose. The bungalow unit itself was..well suffice to say that we got what we paid for I suppose. I've seen better - but I guess to see those better ones, then I'd really have to earn the rights to them I suppose.
So much for relying on freebies...owh those were the days :)
Anyhow, we did manage to have a BBQ by sundown. Which was great I guess. I mean at least we did do something worth mentioning about. At least, for myself-lah. Yasir it seems had the most fun - quoting the words of Abah - "the level of noise that he made in the pool had a direct correlation to the level of fun he is having" - which later brought our conversion to some mathematical equations on how an exponential graph would look like if we were to map his fun level VS noise made. Talk about having an intellectual discussion with your dad-in-law.
The BBQ was nice. The burger by Darabiff was awesome. A whole lot better than your typical Ramly. But then the price would also I guess be in the "awesome" region too - which would mean that I'll happily (forcefully make myself happy) stick to my Ramly as usual.
Managed to get some reading time too - surprisingly. It wasn't as much as I had wanted, but at least I'm moving somewhere. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is quite an interesting read. An interesting read about an interesting topic. Maybe when I'm done with this, I'll get his Outliers too (and rest assured - my 360 Degree Leader would remain untouched for another day...hurm....maybe I should finish that first...).
All in all - the weekend was great. Ate some good food. Spent quality time with family. Spent quality time with self. Not too shabby there I suppose.
Though I'm still waiting for my "ideal" weekend getaway (picture a person sitting lazily on a couch watching his favourite movies while eating junk food all day long..) - which I don't think would be a reality anytime soon..not with my wife having lots of creative ideas every now and then.
Next week is Raya Haji. And on the next week we'd probably be off to Malacca for some wedding reception. And the week after that is my friend's wedding reception. And probably some time in the middle we (my wife and I) would probably be asking ourselves "When in the world are we going to paint this lounge of ours?"
When indeed.
p/s: Yasir, if you're reading this - please build that pool ASAP.
Here's a bunch of stuff that I've thought of writing into this blog whilst walking the streets of NZ.
1. Remember to bring you polarizer lense should you be an avid photographer. The skyline here is gorgeous, and failure to bring that particular lense would in an over-exposed pics the while time you're there.
2. Don't feed the Kea (some species of parrot there). They're an endangered species, and they certainly don't need your junk food as their diet.
3. Bring along your windbreaker should you visit Wellington. It's windy almost all of the time. So not only do you have the cold weather to look after, now you have the wind added to the equation as well. It sums up to a pretty chilling experience.
4. If you want to buy an All-Blacks jersey, go buy them at the Auckland Airport. They're much cheaper there.
5. When someone tell you that stuff in Queenstown are expensive, do take it with a grain of salt. I mean i'm not saying that they're wrong - but there's some shops there that have prices better than all of New Zealand (excluding the airport). You really got to walk around to compare the prices.
6. Try DF Souvenir outlets in either Christchurch or Queenstown to get a good bargain on souvenirs. Don't buy at Aotea of Queenstown - as my wife later found out (damn expensive).
7. If you like books - you might wanna have a go at Arty Bees Second Hand Book Shop in Wellington. They're like the best second hand book shop you're ever gonna see in NZ (heck, it's the best i've seen in my life so far). They're not your typical second hand book shop - more like a library when I come to think of it. They've got wide ranges of books to choose from; all sorts of fiction, facts, history, arts, self-help - even dictionaries. Check out http://www.artybees.co.nz/ for more info.
8. For a relaxing visit of NZ, you might wanna stay at Lake Taupo. Basically a crater filled with water, the scenic view of Lake Taupo is simply breathtaking.
9. You can't really compare the prices of things in NZ with its counterpart in Malaysia. They're friggin expensive. Even more so should you decide you want to try out the outdoor activities that they've got to offer. There's bungy jumping, horse riding, sheep shearing, heli ride (for LOTR fans out there), jetboating, kayaking, etc etc. Nice to see, but they're a bit pricey for me. So if you want to experience NZ to the fullest - bring with you a whole lot of moolah.
10. For the ladies, do bring along a container of some sort. This will help you so much when nature does a calling. I even dare say that it's the 2nd most important thing (the 1st being the passport) that you can have with you while your in NZ.
11. If you enjoy having coffees or its variants, NZ is your place. The country has a whole lot of them. Nothing beats having a hot coffee in a cool weather while under the blue blue sky. :)
12. If you ever get the chance to go salmon-tasting at it's farm in Mount Cook, don't miss it. The smoked salmon in particular is awesome!
13. For halal food, you can either get some turkish kebabs or try some indian cuisine. Most of the time the meat used are halal (always ask first).
14. If you intend to stay for quite awhile, stay at room with a kitchen (if possible, get a washing machine + dryer too). And if you're following a tour, make sure at your last stop, you get to stay at a hotel with a washing machine + dryer (because we hate having to think off the stuff we need to wash once we get back home).
15. For the adventurous type - make sure you come with your good walking shoes (and that shoes doesn't have holes on them like Crocs sandals). You got a lot of distance to cover, and the wind might be coming down hard on you (hence the no-holes-in-your-shoes thing).
16. People back home mentioned that I've got a good tan now. For those who aren't going for a tan, bring along your sunblock. (and no, I didn't expect that I would get a tan. It just turned out that way)
I guess that pretty much covers everything. If I remember anything else though, I'll sure be adding back to the list.
...i miss NZ already :)
HDC has recently introduced a halal-widget for us to use as reference when in doubt.
Nifty stuff - altho the design really sucks.
Anyways, for those interested - you can get the codes at 'tinyurl.com/ktcomw'.
To read more on the matter, you can go to http://founder.limkokwing.net/blog/editor/widget_for_finding_halal_products1/
* Just added his blog to my reader. Inspiring and great write-ups overall :)
Okay, a little explanation is in order I suppose,
Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Armi and Viljo Ratia in Finland and became a fashion icon in the 60’s when First Lady Jackie Kennedy included seven Marimekko dresses in her wardrobe.I came across this "Marimekko" term as I was looking for any interesting design patterns and fabric to be used in our bean bag.
A little side story first on how this came to be.
At first I had thought of getting myself a nice bean bag for our lounge. But the last place I went to at Mid Valley, the price of one was like around RM299. And that is after a somewhat 50% discount.
"What gives?" I thought to myself.
Later my wife provided a rather interesting alternative.
"Why don't you buy it from me then?" she said. She intends to make one and sell it to me.
I could I suppose. After all, I have yet to see a return on my investment (the sewing machine). And she "can" sew. Plus it would be an interesting family project.
So after weeks of thinking about it, we finally went up to a friendly neighbourhood factory near our kampung and bought ourselves 5 kilos worth of polisterene (or however you spell that damn thing) to be used as the beans.
And the plastic bag holding them nearly ripped open at our house. Imagine the horror on our faces. Millions of tiny little lightweight "beans" running amok in our livingroom.
In any case, depending on demand (if any); she was thinking of maybe (just maybe) selling these bean bags to other people as well. We already have identified the beans supplier I suppose. Now for the fabric. And thats where Marimekko came into the picture.
The FatBoy MarimekkoHave to say that I really came to like the look and design of the bean bag covered in Marimekko. But I don't think this thing has entered Malaysia yet - or if it has; I doubt that I can get a good price for it.
Went to KAMDAR yesterday. "Velvet" seems nice and affordable. Looks comfy too, although I do like to have gone to other stores as well to compare the materials and prices. Call it market research. Maybe I'll go have a look at Fella Design or IKEA after this. Or maybe I'll just head up to Nilai.
This is not me doing push-ups against the wall, although it does look like that I suppose. Actually that would be me fixing the wirethat is coming in down from the attic onto the wall so that we could have a new power socket on this side of the wall of our house. We were planning on rearranging the TV set closer to the dining table so we could all enjoy Shin-Chan during berbuka. Hehe :)
Finally the result. Ok la kot. Nampak spacious sket. Following this we were thinking of adding some bean bags in front of the TV. Current plan is that I would be buying the bean bags from - my wife. She's already identifying the "beans" supplier and one of them in fact is actually based in near Monterez Golf Club. For the fabric, maybe we'll go have a look at Fella or IKEA or just Nilai. Not sure how much I'm suppose to pay for those though. Comptel ade kasi bonus raya tak agaknye. Hurm.. The above findings are taken from BBC News clippings here.
I guess somehow rather I'm kinda not surprised to see Canada on that list. Having been educated in one myself, I guess the education system there is quite unique any mind-stimulating enough for any students.
While there I was exposed to various fields of interest - music instruments, woodwork, cooking, and french. Other than that, there were the usual academic subjects. Of all the subjects that were taught there though - I miss playing my baritone the most.
It wasn't the most subtle of instrument. Being quite big and brute, with loud bass-like sound emanating from it's metal horn - one can only wonder how in the world can one actually miss playing the damn contrapment. But miss it I do.
I remember that in each week, I would have to bring the baritone back home after school and practice it for about a half an hour everyday. And I did brought it home, and I did practice playing it - however bad it sounded to mom.
I remember having to wipe my saliva off of the mouthpiece every now and then. Yucks..yep thats how I felt at first. It takes awhile to get use to it, but eventually I did.
The best part of playing a baritone is when you're actually playing it with other instruments alongside you - like an orchestra of sorts. The combination of a baritone's boom and the strike of a piano alongside the high pitch sound a clarinet is really quite fun to hear to - if played accordingly and harmoniously. It was really fun I have to say. I really miss being a part of it, being a part of the orchestra.
That's Canada to you.
I heard that in Finland, you could find so many professors there that should you divide the number of professors to the square feet area of Finland - you could get approximately one professor per school in Finland. That's the level of education that they have.
What do we have? Owh we have plenty I'd bet. We have have so many professors around here that we can simply change the education system here right after every election. Leave it to the majority. Follow the majority. It's fun isn't it to side with majority. You can never be wrong when you side with the majority. How can you be? You are after all, with the majority. It's popular, it's the "in" thing. What a load of bullocks.
In any case, forgive my rambling on the sad excuse of what I would call our political and everyday scenery here in Malaysia.
Let's have a brief chat about education.
Then again let's not. Guess I'm not in the mood anymore. :)
Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet with one of my tabligh friend at Sri Petaling. It has been quite some time since I've talked let alone meet with him up-front (i think the last I saw him was during my wedding reception).
He has since then went on to do his industrial training at some TNB vendor company, doing installation if I'm not mistaken.
Right now, he is waiting for his Visa application to be processed. He'll be going out for some 4 months to do dakwah and personally I wish him all the best and a safe journey to and fro.
We discussed about stuff ranging from the importance of doing dakwah, what his tentative will be once he get there, and the feasibility of doing it whilst being married (like yours truly).
It is sad nowadays that whenever you mention the word 'tabligh' or open up a topic on the matter - the images that would appear in most women's mind are men going out together someplace while leaving their family behind not taken care of. Personally I have heard the story as well from one of my friends who's cousin was used to paying the price of being a tabligh-man's wife. No monthly allowance, no help in raising the kids, and no job too at that. She was quite left all alone while her husband was in his merry way to go on his mission. Great idea, bad implementation was what I had in mind.
The truth is, not all of the the guys who went into tabligh is like that argues my friend (my tabligh friend which I'm meeting). Undoubtedly, some of them are - but only a minority (whether it's a minority or majority is kinda hard to prove I guess at that moment). He personally knows that there are also some guys who haven't neglected their responsibility in their roles as husband and father.
So I guess all in all, it all comes to being able to striking a balance with your life. In my opinion, if you want to go on a 4 months mission or something of the like, make sure you've left something behind for your dear family to hold on too. Know that your kids and wife and mom and dad are being well taken care of. To do otherwise would be in my opinion quite selfish and unresponsible.
As for myself, well we'll just have to wait and see. My wife can be a bit over-protective if you know what I mean. wink wink. :)
Jukebox
