Umrah : Safe Journey Abah!

abah will fly off today to perform umrah with umi. i can only offer my doa that it'll be a smooth flight and for abah and umi to stay healthy and fit throughout. may Allah protect them in their journey!

doakan kami duk selamat dan baik-baik belaka di dubai ni ye, abah!

* * *

my niece sufya on the high chair, umi, abah, azot, syidot & syimot holding to her 2nd one, marissa

syidot, syimot holding marissa, umi with suffiya in front, abah and my bro-in-law din

these are abah's latest picture.

abah took syima and family, along with my younger sisters the wombats syida and azi to a yemeni restaurant. what else - for nasi mandi! you'd better take me here when i'm back! yah yah - i don't care how many times i can eat nasi mandi HERE in dubai, i still wanna go to this place where you guys went!

sigh. i miss abah.

azi dan tisu untuk Yang

owh, and this is my youngest sis azi posing with a tissue paper from the restaurant. why - you may ask.

for those who are new to syigim's quirkiness might not know that i collect tissue paper, serviettes or paper napkins from restaurants, cafes' - almost ANYWHERE where they have printed tissues.

and to date i have more than 500 - five-oh-oh - yes, that's five hundred - tissue papers from cafes, restaurants of every imaginable themes, pizza parlours, ice-cream booths, hotels, airlines, even restoran nasi bungkus from all over the world (cewah) kept in three separate boxes. really.

wanna know more? click here.

My Pile of Tissue

yah, i'm a freak. i collect tissues, paper napkins, serviettes from cafes, restaurants, fast food eateries, or just about any establisments that has the above for the public to take or use.

see my entire collection here!

* * *

i'm happy to report that during my stay in malaysia i have managed to collect 25 serviettes or paper napkins from restaurants, cafes, ice-cream stalls and hotels.

i would like to thank my sis syida and my lawyer put put for contributing the majority of my collection. my youngest sis azi kept the one she took from 'the loaf' - dr. m's bakery! (aku cakap ni macam tun mahathir yang dok uli tepung nak buat roti tu! haha) among others.

put got some from all over europe! and she even got stories to go with it (lawyers, and endless stories? - go figure!) one of it is from 'hotel sacher' (pronounced 'sakher') in vienna where throngs of people line up to get the 'arguably best chocolate cake in the world' - she went, she tried and she judged - her verdict - secret recipe has better choc cake! wadaya know!

she also got me a paper napkin from 'the bridge hotel', durham (where she did her masters) which has a drawing of the hotel which looks like those quaint little cottage-like inn. lovely! and she said, once a week (or was it once a month?) a movie quiz is held in the hotel, and people come by from all over just to join the quiz or watch the fun. coolness!

and thanks to my gal pal mohana for the 'woraburi phuket' tissue. any one from overseas is always a precious gem.

mr. khairul also chipped in a few - one of the most rare ones that he took is the one from the royal lake club kuala lumpur where he had lunch with some otais from his koleq alumni - "founded 1890"! - that's more than a 100 years old!

good job to all!

* * *

and the best of all is - i hit my 500 mark! i now have, in my possession, over 500 individually unique serviettes, from all over the world (ok, i don't have any from zimbabwe or turkmenistan, or any other countries from that region) but it's still from a lot of countries from all over.

yay!

(a message to msians in dubai : kalo gi jalan-jalan cari makan tu rajin-rajin la amik tisu pehtu pass la kat member sorang ni hihi.)

Mau Minum Apa?

i found these stuff in my kitchen cupboard. how did it get here?


i didn't plan this. this is weird for me. i don't even take hot drinks. if i do, it'll be milo. come to think of it, i hardly take ice-cold drinks either. most of the time, i just drink plain water. but don't start to judge now - i'm not a health-freak-must-drink-eight-glasses-of-water-each-day. i'm just speaking comparitively.

hey, i should drink 8 glasses of water. but i don't. so comparitively, i drink more plain water than anything else. mr. khairul, yes he drinks it hot. mostly tea. at times milo when the mood strikes. otherwise he prefers soda and orange juice.

anywho - as we do our usual weekly marketing in spinneys - i find myself arranging a cupboard full of hot beverages to choose from. dah macam kedai mamak je.

* * *

whittard's smooth vanilla ground coffee
i don't drink coffee. wait - i do not like anything that is remotely related to coffee, its neighbours or peers - coffee cake, kopiko, tiramisu and such. but this was a token of thought from my dear buddy niraku who who flew london-malaysia and dropped by dubai to see me.

however, the smell is just tantalizing - it's the vanilla! not to the point of breaking me, though. i still don't like coffee!

takpe niraku. khairul suka!

* * *

malay tea ginger
tea, i drink. but i'm a proud, picky eater. drinker. whatever. so since this has ginger, eww, no thanks. yeah yeah i know it's good for me especially post-pregnancy - but i'll take the ginger with my chicken or ikan bilis any day okay?

i think mr. khairul got this from one of the visitors to his office.

* * *

cadbury drinking chocolate
i like chocolate. let's just say i love chocolate as much as i hate coffee. so there.

* * *

nescafe
there's something nostalgic about this bottle of nescafe. it brought me back to ipoh, to days when my mak made coffee for abah every morning and afternoon, complete with coffeemate. over fried bihun, nasi lemak, bubur kacang or cucur udang. there's always two cups on the table, for her and him. us kids don't drink coffee so it's just mak and abah.

i never made coffee when mak was around so i distinctly remember trying to make a pot right after mak passed away for distant relatives coming to visit. tokcik was there. yes, i remember. nerve-wrecking.

'mai minum kopi manis ni.." from tokcik was enough to tell me that i did ok. *smile*

incidentally, mr khairul doesn't drink hardcore coffee as well. he bought this because - ready for it - coffee grounds, when mix with water - can heal wounds. yup. khaleef had quite a cut one day, so he dabbed the water+coffee mixture on the wound. in no time, the wound was dry with minimal scar.

try it!

* * *

milo
my favourite! go to any mamak restaurant and i'll order milo ais or milo suam on a rainy day. nothing beats milo's chocolatey taste. and who made the bestest best milo in the whole wide world?

mr. khairul!
it's so rich and creamy and sweet and sinful! kalah ice-choc kat starbucks!

want some yummies using milo?

• take butter crackers and dip - yum!
• eat with cornflakes (i remember my colleague jo does this)
• my sis syima uses it in her kek batik
  
• this one done by makcah, mr. khairul's aunt who took care of him since he was a baby - she would spread condensed milk on a piece of bread, then sprinkle some milo. voila!
• when we were younger mak used to take left-over milo and put them in plastic cups in the freezer. result - cheapest ice-cream ever! so nice to sit around, us siblings, on a hot day, scraping the iced-hard milo with our spoon. it's like ice blended!
• i love to sprinkle some milo on my ice-cream, especially if they're plain vanilla
  

..also, so good you can even eat it on its own!

* * *

lipton tea
ok this one i like! plain tea with sugar and that's it. mr. khairul likes teh tarik and once attempted to tarik at home but doesn't taste the same! lucky enough found a nice spot here in dubai which serves a good teh tarik. here they call it chai.

try green city for an awesome teh tarik!

* * *

twinings' english breakfast tea
another souvenir from my buddy niraku when she dropped by dubai on the way from london to malaysia. well, it's tea. put a spoonful of sugar and warm water - hmm...

* * *

ceylon tea from sri lanka
this i got when i went for the costumes show in abu dhabi. there were booths from several countries and some were giving out free stuff - traditional fans, brochures, sweets and such. so from sri lanka, i got these tea packets. have yet to try but i bet it tastes just as good.

but then again, i really really really cannot take chinese tea or green tea. so i guess there are types of tea that i won't take...

* * *

ok, incik nak minum apa?

From 50 Kids

i've got mail!

mr. khairul came home from work, bringing this exceptionally fat parcel.

for me?
and i saw the sender:

mohana.
from malaysia.
from my old working place.

hmm.

i ripped it open.
and my mouth dropped.
my eyes buldged.
my heart flutters.
my smile, just.

it was a parcel filled with no less than 50 little letters from my kids back at work!


i was speechless.
this was a really thoughtful gesture from my colleagues.
and a really really cute effort from the kids.

these are individual enveloped letters, made from recycled magazine pages, assembled and put in one pos laju pack to be sent all the way to dubai. in this kids' centre, each week they do a new theme and this week they're doing recycling, so in the words of one of the kids,

"..we decided to recycle the magazine to make an envelope. this can help save money and papers. it is also colourful!"

these are letters from 5 year old to 13 year old. simply wonderful, they take your breath away. i was "awww..." "waaa.." "hihihi.." all way through.

it seemed that mr. khairul had known about this 'surprise' for quite awhile, since mohana needed his office address to send the parcel. thanks, honey. never knew you had it in you too keep surprises from me! (he used to suck at keeping surprises)

the kids amused me with their anecdotes on chinese new year holiday activities, they share their new year's resolution and even enlightened me on the 3R - reduce, reuse, recycle!

a cute drawing of what will happen if we do not take care of our beloved earth by KL

• "do not use too much electricity or the earth will be sick and the ozone layer will be thinner."
• "trees have lives, so if we reuse paper we can save the trees."
• "remember to switch off your computer when you don't want to use it, but not throw it."
• "don't buy too many toys you can take old toys for kahfi."
• "we need good earth, not dirty earth."

apart from the anecdotes and stories they share, they posted a few questions for me:

1. kahfi looks like chinese boy, does he? yes, mata sepet maa..
   
2. where did you get kahfi's name? click here
   
3. has khaleef been a good boy? one word : naughty! but he's been a great brother
   
4. what is the most expensive thing in dubai? my guess is the properties?
   
5. how big are the islands? BIG! huge!
   
6. can you buy shawarma for me? sure. it'll be basi by the time it gets to you, though.
   
7. can you come back and teach us? i'd love to!
   
8. what food do you miss the most in malaysia? right now? char kuey teow!
   

..and share their 2-cents on life in dubai after reading my account in a letter to them.

• "i like the dessert of dubai because i can see a lot of dinosaur bones."
• "i like the bus-stops in dubai because it has aircone."
• "..most interesting are....spinning (spinneys) and lulu.."

..and of course, well-wishes and hopes (haha) - i miss you too, kiddos!

• "we have read your letter, until our tears has come out."
• "i miss your fake spider."
• "i wish for you to be healthy forever and ever."

it took quite awhile to read all the letters, and yet i did not want it to end. reading their handwritten letters are a sight for sore eyes - weird loops, smudgy handwriting and all. it stopped time for that one brief moment, for me to go back to days where there's a thin line between patience and going totally berserk - and loving it!

there was this one little poem that is too cute not to be shared with you guys penned by one of the kids.

your days in malaysia are not over,
you can still visit us sooner or later,

having a wonderful time in dubai?
there are many places to visit, maybe too many, oh my!

we are delighted to have you around,
i wish you can come back to malaysia safe and sound!

~RL

the packing
i took these pictures from mohana's facebook. taken while they were preparing the wonderful parcel for me. somehow i can't take my eyes off mohana's socks...


god willing, i will be back middle of the year - hope to see all you then. thanks for everything, girls. and millions more thanks to the kids. this has made my day. from dubai with love!

Drink Stirrer, Lanyard, Bookmarks & Theme Park Maps

hey hey hey - drop that mop and take a break! close that file from office and take a chill pill. pass the screaming baby to your other half and pay attention - been long since i invite you guys into my weird world of happy junks.

now let's make a check list - have you seen my other collectibles?

1. x-files
2. tissue
3. postcard
4. theater booklets
   
5. books

check!

now just to sum it all up - here's 4 more of my collection - hey you, yeah you! stop yawning! you can always click this window shut or go to other blogs! or else, grab a popcorn or kacang puteh and sit quietly!

theme park maps, lanyard, bookmarks and drink stirrer

* * *

DRINK STIRRER
something you use to stir your drink. but something i collect. it's small, long, flat, thin - easy storage. it comes in different colors and shapes as its head. and like the tissues, it has got memories too.


i keep 'em all in my nike shoe box. i can't recall how many i have, but my favorites are the ones with unique head shape, like the steakhouse windmill and the ship. the best includes:

kelab golf diraja perak
when in doubt, "golf club?" - the answer to most "malam ni nak makan apa?" or "makan mana?" also, for raya emergencies when food served is not enough. it's a family place. i love the lamb. the last time i went it's renovating - i bet it looks pretty different when i go back mid this year.

shook
the one in star hill. had dinner when mak was still around. didn't like the food. yes, i don't care how posh the place is.

* * *

LANYARD
a lanyard, laniard, or wrist strap is a rope or cord often worn around the neck or wrist to carry something, like your handphone, a name tag, your camera or your keys.


when i was lecturing in a private college in my hometown ipoh, i had to wear a staff tag with a lanyard. i was given a dark blue one, the corporate color of the college i guess, but the rebel inside decided to get more lanyard of different colors - just so i could color coordinate it with my clothes and tudung. so i changed the lanyard daily, accordingly.

*yes, another thing you should know about me is that i love to coordinate colors.

nways, one thing led to another and before long i started to get more lanyard - this time with flowers, or cartoon character and such.

* * *

BOOKMARK
i didn't plan to collect bookmark, if that makes sense. 90% of the bookmarks i have were presents and the rest i got for free. i just sort off got them piled up over the years.


oddly enough, i never use these bookmarks when reading, being a savage reader myself. i just grab any pamphlet or folded up paper as bookmark - i've even used a boarding pass once - that way i could just tuck 'em in those pages and not have to worry about losing 'em.

* * *

THEME PARK MAPS
who doesn't collect these? when you go to a theme park, these maps are the least that you could have kept. unless you held on to it too long with your excited, sweaty fingers, and kept referring to it too vigorously; folding and unfolding it - that it became roti canai by the time the walk at the theme park ends. as such, you're best to do without.

what's great about these maps are they tell you what's the theme park is all about, and also reminds you what rides you took and what games you played, or have missed. you have got to keep these maps!


probably the best memories i have about these maps is the one on disneyland, california - i distinctly remember - abah has always been the tourist guide - but that day he enthusiastically asked me to lead the way. look at the map, and tell us where to go first, next and after that. man, i was in charge. i was important. i got so excited that the map was my siamese twin for the duration of the trip to disneyland.

* * *

hmm.

anymore collection?

Shall i Shutdown?

there's flikr, photobucket, fotopages and many more. i have a fotopage. and i've had it for 5 years to date. give and take 5 years since i started this fotopages.

my first entry

it first started as a way to communicate while i was in melbourne last time.

i'd also like to think it feeds my hunger for narcissistic photography.

i'd like to think it also pictured my complete love affair with a perfect stranger met at dave's deli, a friend, then my boyfriend, after that my fiance and now husband. this is because the fotopages started only a week after we met, and now we already have 2 kids and living in dubai.

after i had khaleef, the fotopages turned topsy turvy with him 'taking over' as a 'moderator' writing on my behalf - rantings of a 3 year old. and when kahfi came, they 'fought' over who gets to 'dominate' the fotopage - i had fun with that style of writing!


..but i also realize that i've been menganak-tirikan this site, despite being one of the pioneer windows of the web to my world. i wasn't so up-to-date in updating pictures in it, and the writing has been sloppy and lack effort.

..because the writings have gone to this blog, and photos have gone to facebook.

right now i'm addicted to facebook - which not only serves to renew old ties and keep current ones - i can keep track on my friends, i can send messages, type silly nothings on their 'walls', give individual comments to individual pictures, get updated on what other people so to whom and when and from which photograph - and do what a fotopage can do - share my pictures with the world.

apart from that, i have a new obsession - my blog. i not only share photos here but most importantly share stories and thoughts, especially being so far away from people i love and care.

not being able to keep up with all the uploading and updating so many sites, i am thinking of...

shutting down this fotopage.

what say you?

>please leave a comment to support this move or to give me reason not to!<

if you want to find out what's up with that girl from ipoh, just

• add me as a friend in facebook or
• knock on my blog door

i'll always be around!

Self-Confessed X-Filed Maniac

alrite.

so far i've shared with you THREE of my precious collections; my tissues (the one you use to wipe, not the one in your body) my postcards and my theater tickets and booklets.

presenting the fourth installment of syigim's collection:

The X-Files!


the x-files is one of my all-time fav tv show. the other two are f.r.i.e.n.d.s and whose line is it anyway. i am an absolute freak when it comes to the x-files. you know the feeling when a new design on watches or handbag is out on sale and you just HAVE to have it - that is how i feel when i spot a new x-files episode guide book or an x-files merchandise on the new arrival shelf.

agents mulder and scully; then and now

to the clueless (man, where have you been? witness protection?) the x-files is a real cool show about an FBI agent's quest to find his sister, he believed to have been abducted by aliens. his name is (wait for it) Fox Mulder (scream now!). in the course of this pursuit, he came across tons of unsolved cases of supernatural and out-of-this-world nature - cases filed under 'X'. in the pilot episode he was assigned a partner, Dana Scully (que scream!) who was supposed to 'debunk' his x-files work.

in short, he's the 'believer' and she is the 'sceptic'.

it's just awesome, man.

the episodes of the x-files are divided into 2 types:

1. aliens
2. monster of the week

i prefer monster of the week. i have to admit, even as a freaky fan, i find the 'alien' episodes gone mengarut in the last few seasons of the x-files - but the monster-of-the-week episodes have never disappoint.


my fav episodes are too many - but i guess the best of the best had to be:

season2

• humbug ~ weird circus freaks.

season 3

• syzygy ~ mulder and scully acting weird as the planets arranged themselves in a line.
• war of the coprahages ~ cockroaches. mulder comin on to hot scientist. scully actin jealous.
• jose chung's 'from outer space' ~ spoof on MIB and the works.
• clyde bruckman's final repose ~ very very funny episode. about a cynical psychic.

season 4

• small potatoes ~ another funny one. a man who can take the form of another. disguise as mulder.

season 5

• the post-modern prometheus ~ ala frankenstein meet elephant man. shot in black and white.
• chinga ~ written by master horror storyteller, stephen king. a psychotic doll.
• bad blood ~ freakin funny. vampires. stories told from the point of view of mulder and scully.

season6

• triangle ~ mulder went back in time. met 'scully' from the past. they kissed. and he went back to the present. at the end of the episode, at the hospital bed, was the cutest scene ever,

mulder said, "scully.... (pause) i love you..........."

scully looked at mulder long enough, rolling her eyes, replied, "....oh, brother..." and left.

cute!

ok where was i? oh, yes. my x-files collection.

story books and episode guides

i got most of my x-files stuff from a shop in one utama (before there was a new wing). in fact, it's not even there anymore. i got most of my mags, postcard books and comics from there.

a nearby bookstore in taman tun dr. ismail sells the x-files trading cards too so i got some from there. i have the complete set of trading cards from the x-files movie but i have yet to complete the seasonal ones.

trading cards, postcard books, mags, MAD spoof on the x-files and the pilot episode comic

• the watch is from yong - she gave it to me when she came back for good from purdue indiana. sayang betul nak pakai!
  
• the t-shirt i got from fox studio, sydney
• the cd, probably somewhere in ipoh
• yes, i drew the potrait of mulder

..and i still want more x-files stuff!

oh, and did i tell you i have my own badge? i remember wearing this to the youthquake party at syuen ipoh.. ;-)

Post a Card

now let's see.

i've *amazed* you with my tissue collection in my post 'tissues not for the sniffles'. and i've *mesmerized* you with my theater booklet collection in my later post, 'theater termites'. i ain't done yet. oh, and yes, syigim memang takde keja lain.

presenting another collection of 'junk from the past' - my postcards collection. almost a thousand of 'em.

i keep my postcards in a shoebox

postcards i keep

• mostly the ones i got for free - from 'free postcards' rack outside cafes, restaurants and even the cinema
• the ones i bought while i'm travelling - i made it a point to get at least 2 or 3 - a pict of the place's most famous landmark
• the ones i received from friends and family through postage
• the ones i received as a souvenir from friends and family

hey, a lot of people collect postcards. especially when they're free, cheap and easy to store. furthermore it's the best, easiest way to get a picture of a travel destination, with a lil bit of info on the back. as a bonus, you can even send it to someone! or be at the other end!

i mean, really! do you know that instead of switching on your notebook, goin online, logging on to your email account, type a message and THEN click send - you can ALSO send a message by actually grabbing a pen and a postcard, write your message, paste a stamp on the right upper side and THEN put it in the nearest post box? neat, huh?

we're so hooked up on the net now that we forget the little charm of receiving a solid crisp of paper in your hand and being able to keep it under your pillow and read it anytime you want, even when there's a blackout? (unless you don't have a candle. or a torchlight.)


fav types of postcards i keep

• the ones tied-in with popular tv/movie - my favs include the x-files, f.r.i.e.n.d.s, star wars and the exorcist
• the ones depicting interesting places i've been to - my favs include central park, universal studios and sea world
• the ones tied-in with theater show i've been to - shakespeare's merchant of venice and usman awang's uda dan dara
• the ones of my fav fast food joint - McD!
• the ones with dr m and a whole lot of other interesting covers of TIME mag
• the ones with cute shapes - round and long rectangular
• the ones with patriotic theme - msian flag or orang utan hihi
  

also not forgetting the ones with crazy sexy cool caption or a creative social message like this sarcastic one on 'how to make your own ecstacy.'


of course there are the priceless ones that i got from friends and family. especially coming all the way from a place beyond mountains and sea, with a foreign stamp on it. most precious in my keeping is one from my abah when he just arrived in san francisco, dated 1983! others are the ones i received from yong during her purdue days because her postcards always had these cute stamps on them.

*image removed*
classic 1983 postcard from abah and few from yong while studying in usa

saving the best for last, these postcards have a different value to me - inscribed upon the postcards are not messages from friends nor family - but from my idols!

• dr. mahathir mohamad - remember when i wrote about meeting dr. m during one of the umno general assembly in pwtc that got me on the front page of utusan? that was when i got his signature. total coolness.
• afdlin shauki - i can't remember whether i met him when he was doing his gig with or when he was in actorlympics but i know i met him at the now closed-after-big-flood actors' studio under dataran merdeka. he's do down-to-earth and funny up close too!
  
• anuar zain - got this at bintang walk during his tour under some award show - i can't remember which one. he was such a darling!

anuar zain, afdlin shauki and most classy autograph of all from msia's best PM

so, can't you guys take a hint? send me one postcard-lah!

Theater Termites

my beloved theater booklet - infos on the peeps on stage & behind the curtain

this is my second installation of my list of collection.

1> tissues (have you read about it? well, go ahead then!)
2> theater tickets & booklet

i love the stage. i love theater. i love plays. i love everything about it. ergo, i collect every single theater ticket stub i've gotten - and the theater booklet as well.

..and like all of my collection, each tells a story...

theater ticket stubs

1> St. Michael's 'The Sound of Music' first - it was a day where a group of progesterone-high giggly girls went to an all-boys school. you get the picture. i was in form 5 and it was the cheapest stage-play i've been to - being a school production. i've always into school production as i LOVE to be involved in one, and imagine their blood-sweat-and tears of running their own school play. i had the best time with keet mei, kit yee, keat li, eric, irda, put - this was my *nasi tomato* gang. (nasi tomato in our school canteen that time was *expensive* and only served on rare days - it was a real *occasion* for all of us to be sitting down eatin a plate of nasi tomato)

2> the instant cafe theater staging shakespeare's 'twelfth night' watched this with yong and her then-boyfriend-now-hubby abg mat. in fact he was in my favor that time because he was the one who helped bought the tickets. biase la, bodek bakal adik ipar...the wonderful part of this theater experience is not just watching my first professionally-staged shakespeare play, more so as it was staged 'out in the open' (at night under the stars!) in
no less than carcosa sri negara!

3> siti zubaidah @ istana budaya the first malay play and the first play i watched in istana budaya. and well hey, believe it or not - yong, my bro-in-law and i wore full-fledged traditional garb - thai songket and top, and abg mat in baju melayu. haha. people thought we were under special invites! nways i remember a super-gorgeous tiara jacq and a rather stiff-acting halim othman.

all the world's a stage; and these are the three shakespeare play i've seen

4> royal shakespeare's company staging shakespeare's 'the merchant of venice' this was a big freakin deal since it's staged by the highly mighty acclaimed royal shakespeare company. if you're a shakespeare geek, it can't get ANY better than this. they don't even need fancy props - all they had was a couch and a couple of screeens for actors to go in and out - when you're good, you're good.

5> bell shakespeare staging shakespeare's 'twelfth night'
a biggie play that i caught when doing my masters in melbourne. saw it at the arts centre - much like our istana budaya. this one was a bit off for me as it modernized shakespeare. and it had a bit with an aging dude showin off his butt. yikes.

irda, put & me

6> countless of other unforgettable plays wif my loyal theater gal pals, put & irda like 'the importance of being earnest' with an ALL-MALE cast! hillarious! gavin yap in cutesy braid! also 'the three trials of oscar wilde' staged in the *range club where irda started her crush on rashid salleh..

klasik kontemporari or klasik mak yong?

7> konsert klasik for anniversary & my first mak yong show i actually did go for an instrumental *gig* at syuen hotel, ipoh when i was still schooling. i remember going with erika. but it was a small performance. during my anniversary, mr khairul treated me with a classy night of orchestral magic. it was OK but not my cup of tea...

mak yong was a completely exhilarating experience - the kelantan accent was enough to *amaze*. but at least i can tell people that i've seen one...

cintailah pentas bahasa ibunda kita!

8> plays in bahasa melayu : usman awang's 'uda & dara' & the long-winded extravaganza, 'merdeka! merdeka! merdeka!'
adlin aman ramlie is brilliant in this piece as utih. honestly i didnt know who he was when i watched him do his thang. it was staged in a simple setting - actors merely wore black and white.
the 'merdeka!' play was awesome for the sets. it's really a walk down memory lane (macam la penah actually 'walk' down that era!)

i used to browse www.kakiseni.com for updates. sigh. miss those theater shows and girls night out, put! irda!

here in dubai i have yet to experience any cultural aspect of it in terms of stage performance. the theater spot here is at the top floor or mall of emirates - the Dubai Community Theater & Arts Centre. you can visit http://www.dubaitheatre.org/ for more information.

Tissues Not for the Sniffles

my profile reads 'a crab who keeps junks from the past'.

now i'm about to reveal the first of my list of 'collections' which is also my favourite. i'm proud of each one - so don't judge me ok!

first and foremost, i collect tissues. tissues, serviettes, paper napkins - call 'em what you want. to date, i have about 468 tissues from all over the world - ok i added that all over the world part - but there are tissues from the faraway places i've been to.

i keep all 468 tissues in 3 boxes; one for rectangular ones, another for square tissues and finally a 'holiday box' for tissues i get from hotels and airlines.

most of the tissues i got on my own, but a good amount also came from those thoughtful people who made the effort to save a piece of tissue when they go makan, had the gentleness to keep it nicely from wrinkles til the time comes to hand it over to me. anyone who has ever given me a tissue they had kept would know how much i appreciate the effort. THANKS!

i printed a list of all my tissues, put in alphabetical order, (of course i keep track!) along with whom i went with, or in a case where i was given the tissue - who gave it; followed by the place where i got it from.

e.g: captain cook cruise family sydney

my list, my 3 precious boxes and the little soaps i put to keep 'em fresh smelling

• it's easy to get, (free for the taking, you can always ask for more, and you can even grab one without actually eating at that particular makan place)
• a little harder to keep (it's paper, it's flimsy, it's easily torn so i gotta keep it in a secure place where it can't be crumpled or torn - or get wet!)
• and i think hardest to maintain (placed without care and you'll get yellowish colouration around the edges - i keep those small hotel soaps in each boxes and it keeps the tissues smelling fresh all year round)

best of all, it holds memories!

each tissue is unique. it's taken from all sorts of nook and corners; with different company of people for different occasions; eating all sorts of yummies.

out of 468 of mine, i took out just a smidgen to demonstrate how these tissues can hold little gems of memories in their folds...

1. the putra world trade center -
got this when wani (a good friend of mine) and i berkampung at PWTC to catch a glimpse of our then PM, Dr. M during the perhimpunan agung UMNO that year. it was really an unforgettable experience for we didn't JUST see him - we barged through his bodyguards, shook hands with him, got his autograph AND got our picture published at the FRONT PAGE of utusan malaysia the next day.

2. dave's deli, black canyon coffee and schlotzky deli -
dave's deli was not quite in my list of yummy makan place - but it's really really special as it was the place where mr khairul and i met for the first time - a rendezvous planned by my youngest sister. black canyon coffee was the place where i first belanja my abah with my first pay. it was father's day. schlotzky deli (susahnye nak eja!) was syida's first working place while waiting for her SPM result and got that when we kacau her at work!

3. indulgence - a quaint little cafe in ipoh, went there with my buddy niraku and i distinctly remember having this simple dessert of ice-cream with grilled banana. a fantastic fusion of hot and cold!

4. the chakri palace - a girls' night out getaway for me and my theater gal pals - put and irda. i always remember this place as where we'd hang out after a theater show @ the actors' studio or istana budaya.

5. kopikau - nearby kopitiam occasionally supplying breakfast for me and my officemates in puchong. i love working with them and now that i'm in dubai, i'm missing the fun working environment esp. lunch time!

6. pakeeza - my wedding party caterer. ;-) 'nuff said.

7. sunway medical - where i gave birth to my first; fresh prince of kl - khaleef khairul.


these tissues are taken from the 'holiday' box which i kept tissues from hotels and airlines. also a treasure box of memories...

1. eastin hotel - used to be a favourite hotel for mak and abah whenever they come over to KL.

2. boulevard hotel - it's adjacent to the mid valley megamall and we always had great fun staying at this hotel as we can come and go to the mall as we please, even catch a midnight movie show as our hotel room is just an elevator away!

3. seri costa hotel - fantastic! a small quaint hotel in the heart of melaka but always a lovely memory as it is our first ever ever holiday with khaleef. it's also where we got to know the BEST ikan bakar place in the world - sg duyung!



others are priceless as it includes interesting bits in their folds - not merely a name and a place or a tagline.

1. like this piece i got from subway, there is a list of calories or carb you'd be taking with their sandwiches.

2. a cute one from ben & jerry i got when the whole family went to US to send yong off to study in purdue, indiana - include a reminder to not waste their napkins 'please use only what you need'.

3. and this one from pizza hut is especially unique as it has chinese characters on it - gotten from hong kong.


the rest of my tissues i group in types - i've got those fancy party tissues - including a precious one of shrek!

there are wet tissues packed in plastics, mostly from japan given by my bro-in-law din when he went there for a business trip.

then there are those tissues which came from the SAME brand but different branches or at different time. like i have 9 from nando's - printed in different wordings and patterns, taken from malaysia, melbourne, auckland and south africa. also have 9 varieties of KFC tissues - different tissues printed according to the theme they have at that time - like the 'KFC 30 Years', or when they did the campaign 'What's Your KFC Moment?'

sigh.

ok, so wanna help me reach 500? gimme some tissues!