Tardiness

I hate waiting. Waiting can be defined as: wasting time, wasting energy, wasting money and a clear sign of inefficiency!

I’m currently waiting for a friend to send me a dress she borrowed. Due to this waiting that has been postponed from 1130am to 1230noon and now it is exactly 1.26pm, I have literally cancelled two plans – 1. to visit my sister  2. lunch plans with hubby for family who just got back from Hajj. And they’re having a briyani feast! Blueargh! On top of it all, it is a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I am all dressed up since an hour ago, and I am still waiting! I am waiting for the excuses of traffic jams, mismanagement of time and everything in between. People really need to manage their weekends better….

There’s a few things I will do when I get impatient- 1. Snappy, and I need to exit this snappiness to either a) facebook status b) sms replies c) blog. If I don’t do this, then I cannot move on from this frustration.

So there! I have done it, and finally my dress arrived, but I still missed my lunch and lsot some money here and there……

Carrie, and the things she say

If you have seen SATC2 then you know what I mean.

Sometimes, I miss being the old me. Especially loafing around the hostel with my girlfriends talking about anything and nothing. We used to talk about boys all the time, sometimes about other girls too, killing time and not feeling guilty about it.

Time moved us on, Carrie said. I miss having nothing to do. The stress is really different now, and the expectations build up like there will be no end.

We make our own rules, Carrie said. She’s right. However, it is much easier to live by someone else’s rules than our own. You need to be damn gutsy to become exceptional. I think I am- exceptional. Not by choice, but by perhaps – luck and just random lottery number.

I’m glad I met Carrie today, watching the movie just refreshes my thoughts and the things I miss- it’s great to be able to ponder upon them again. Brings back good ole memories, the very reason to smile alone for a moment today.

Sunday – the hunt for the landscaper

Aziz and I got out of bed at 7am today and hit the gym till 9am. A customer cancelled her appoinment with me so we went straight to Sg Buloh to shop around for some landscaping ideas. Aziz has this thing in mind where he wants to re-tile our front yard and add some plants. He’s also got this wild thing going on with LED lights for the garden or solar lights. Sigh, what a lotta work! Let’s just stick to the tiles and plants!

As usual I need to do all the follow up. Found a landscaper whom I’m quite interested in hopefully he can come over ASAP and start work. We also drove over to Jln Ipoh to get some sample tiles, however still debating over which colour suits us best. I have a feeling he is winning this battle since I vetoed on the colours for our walpapers, walls and sofa set.

We visited this place called Neo Nusantara Terra Garden today – located in Kelana Jaya. We had this vision that they could do landscaping for us but it turned out their strength is Malaysian wood landscaping. Looks rather old fashioned to me, but anyways maybe I just don’t have the flair for a Malaysian garden whatsoever. I just want something neat, green and lotsa zen.

Yes, Zen is the word. I want lots of those little spa rocks in my garden. Maybe some bonzai plants for an eedgy feel. I hate red flowers, will definitely make sure ony white flowers in the garden. As for now, we are still deciding on the tiles.

Our House and the facelift we gave it

We live in an old house, my husband and me. The house has “old” characters of its own, some might say – the grilles, the doors and the wood parkirs are all old fashioned – some are not even practical. It’s a 2-storey terrace, with a small garden and porch – only large enough to fit two cars- we have a big kitchen, which I like a lot, and we have friendly neighbours- who are mostly retired, because it is a matured neighbourhood. The good thing about retired neighbours is that they are too old to be nosy about anything that you do, they also feed you with good food and they take care of your house whenever you’re not around- because due to retirement, they are always around.

We bought this house when we got married, after months of looking for a different house, we rushed and settled for this house instead. We wanted a house in this vicinity- could not afford anything decent in TTDI (our dream location) so this is second best. We have not done any sort of renovation or clean-up whatsoever as much as this house deserves, thinking we’d move to a new house this year. Well, that didn’t happen because we spent all our money on Pingu. We still want to move to a bigger place next year, but in the meantime, we thought we’d clean up this place a little bit.

Our walls have always been kinda peachy-looking, I personally felt that it kinda gave a warm effect to the house, so I chose some grey-aqua wallpaper for a feature wall and painted the rest of the walls in light grey. There’s a Jotun colour called Oxford River which I like so much- it looks way better on the walls than on the catalogue. We changed the lights, got some grand leather sofa and some neat white shelves. Aziz is very much into anything that can make a small space look bigger, so we placed two 6-feet mirrors in the house, with a foyer desk to complete it. Just by changing the colour, the house looks more contemporary today. I love the new look. It’s not hundred percent complete yet- but we are almost there.

We love entertaining people, so everything we choose has “people-friendly” theme in mind- from the leather sofa to the lED lights and the 2.5hp aircond – everything for comfort. I managed to make a tiny library area under the staircase- complete with an ottoman chair in damask grey/black. Also made a few trips to SSF to get some beautiful purple hydrangeas and calla lilies to deco, and my favourite piece of antique in the house is none other than a tiffany-blue birdcage I got at BSC. Aziz hates it but I love it- it spells me…

I’m lovin this new facelift so much that I spent the whole day today- just unwinding at this newly decorated space. For a Saturday- and for me to be able to sit at a corner and do that- is simply amazing! Looks like I have finally found my comfort zone and I’m liking it! Can’t wait to have some friends over.

So much change

Ever since Pingu’s English opened at Kota Dsara, everything else falls second – in importance.

After 4 months, we managed to get 15 students so far, not counting another one registering at the end of this week. Business has been ok, not so “ecstatic” as I have wanted it to be, but maybe also because this is the way it should be. Expanding it with baby steps seems a lot more practical, although I do wish we would make more numbers. It’s good to not be in “ecstatic” mood right now, it naturally means hard work doesn’t end here, there’s a lot of room for improvements and we need more ideas on how to make Pinguland a better place.

What’s haunting me at Pingu are 2 things:

1. The electricity bills – with 5 ACs, it’s tough to keep it low! It breaks my heart every single month.

2. Naughty, uncontrollable kids – most kids we have here are cute angels but 2 newly enrolled ones are too tough to handle. Too tough until I don’t think they are learning anything much- yet. Sigh, it’s really testing the teacher’s patience!

It’s weird telling people I run a Pingu centre whenever I’m asked “what do you do” kinda questions. I have never imagined myself to be working on my own like this- and to be associated with a cute Penguin- never in my wildest dream ;P  I always pictured myself to be the edgier, protocolish and stucked at a corporate desk kinda job- my vision of “fun” just stops there- but I guess fate has more plans for fun than me myself.

I’m truly blessed for this opportunity. I suppose I should be thanking my investor for this- I know I never say thank you enough.

On most days it doesn’t feel like work because I am at my comfort zone. I get friends to come and teach we try to keep each other happy. I get the hubs to come too so they could see where their wives hangout. I get inspired by children and I miss them when they get sick.

If there’s one thing that could kick offn your level of confidence- it will be the business you start. Because nobody will believe in you if you didn’t yourself. I have never quite been the slacker, but I lack the ability to push myself hard when there is a need, I have always relied on someone who will be my ultimate “fixer”, but now I can’t afford a fixer – I am what I am. and thus, I cannot be a slacker. I need to be the frontliner- and I need to be good at what I do.

I hope the feeling of awkwardness fades away soon, and I pray Pingu’s English Kota Dsara will see success soon instead of just breaking even. Here’s some cheers to the 15 students that we have!

Sushi, who left us too soon

Just before Ramadhan started this year, we heard a kitten crying for hours behind our house. I was reluctant to take him in but the banker has a lot of empathy for cute little creatures, so he rescued the 7-days old kitten from the cold dirty drain and washed him. Sushi lived with us for 2 weeks before he passed away.

Sushi was not fit to survive, he refused the milk we gave him, and most of the time, he was extremely lonely. It broke my heart to see him crying, frantically looking for his mother. He died of loneliness and sadness.

We still miss you Sushi, may Allah forgive us if we were not good enough for you. I am so sorry you had to suffer, although I tried my best to care for you, I know you needed your mother the most and nothing can replace that. I am so sorry for the long car rides to work where you continued to cry because of discomfort, for the nights we left you out of the bedroom because you were making too much noise, for the days we had to bathe you because you made a mess of yourself. We tried to keep you company but it was still not enough.

You left us on the first night of Ramadhan, and we buried you at our nearby park- the one I take my long jogs on some evenings.

I wish we could see you grow. When I miss you too much, I’d youtube videos of little kittens drinking milk, and it feels like I am holding you again.

Massage me well

I’ve been going on a massage marathon ever since I started running my own business. The weekend before last was foot reflexology at a place called Manjakini, and last weekend was at my usual favourite Thai Odyssey. Nothing beats a good Thai massage, especially when you choose the ones where they place warm wet cloth on your skin. Not sure what that is called but it was the ultimate treatment for me… ahhh….

I still have not found a good Balinese spa here in KL.. some of the best treatments i’ve ever gotten was in JKT itself, nothing matches the massage I got at Bersih Sehat … they even serve very good food there, and most treatments comes with a free lemongrass drink. Now who can ever resist a good lemongrass drink in JKT? Its da bomb. Oh ya and don’t forget their avocado juice. Fly me to JKT for an avocado juice but I can’t stand the traffic there. Nevertheless, the best spa ever. There’s something about Indonesians and the creative ambience they tend to create at their spa centres- I could not really find anything that matches it here in KL.

Another favourite place of mine for some good ol aromatheraphy massage is Urban Retreat, The Curve. The ginger tea that they serve is the thing that keeps me going back, but other than that there was nothing special about the massage. The place also seems to look a little over-commercialised in my opinion – it’s like tight but aromatized at the same time. I still go there though for the convenience and the great smell of lavender.

Recently, with me working two jobs and the banker working long hours the way he always work, I have been outsourcing a lot of things. Banker got the hint and he decided to look for his own masseuse these days since I am no more available for special treatments. So we keep an eye open for foot reflexology centres and that’s how we got into the routine of spa-hopping every other weekend. He hated Thai Odyssey because the old lady gave him neck pain instead. Of course he complaint that instead of getting a relaxed neck, he came home with a stiff neck. Now this is what happens when you do not understand the art of the whole thing.  There are after-effects when you’re done with the massage, it is supposed to rejuvenate you and the pain is supposed to be a good thing.Plus, if you think the massage is too painful for you, you are suppose to open your mouth and tell the old lady. Of course I must have married the most polite man on earth, so it seems

Anyways due to that, the hunt for more massage centres continues. If anyone knows a good Balinese place, do tell me. I’m craving for an aromatheraphy fix. Oh ya and please suggest places in the radius of Damansara-TTDI-Bangsar only ok  because I don’t travel elsewhere except these areas for spas!

Ramadhan

My favourite time of the year. This is also the busiest time of the year. Having to abstain from food and wake up for Sahur and attend iftar invitations  and terawih at the mosque is a huge lifestyle change!

Nevertheless we look forward to it every single year – it’s a month where I watch out for my every move… the level of conscience at this time of the year is very different. I force myself for terawih even though I hardly got any rest on a particular day.

I feel a little different towards food cravings this year. There isn’t any. At all. I think this is due to the fact that I am more occupied these days. Let’s rephrase that- extremely occupied. There’s not much time to think about food, let alone cravings. I do have time to blog though, because this is what I do in between my classes, just to blow off steam. This is my outlet, from those children who sometimes test my patience. Time flies when you are so occupied – which is a good thing because you don’t think about hunger, but when time flies as fast as this then it’s not so good either because you usually delay ‘spiritual’ tasks to later and finds out there’s no time for it anymore in a day.

It’s sad that I am also busy at this time of the year – I wish there will be a year when I can just take off and spend Ramadhan in Mekah – InsyAllah I’m sure that time will come when we have more money, less obligations and a whole lot of assets. I hate being busy in Ramadhan, I hate not having to enjoy iftars with whoever or wherever I want. Just need to bear with things as they are right now.

Sahur is a special time for me and banker – we wake up to pray and get our daily morning dosage of oats, cereals and bread with nutella. Sometimes I’d make corn beef with some french loaf and olive oil. I call this the 5-minute Sahur, where I can prepare and consume everything in 5 minutes. Then we sit down for coffee for me and milo for him in front of our great idiot box. These days we put on Frasier on Fox channel. Niles is my favourite character. On weekends we go out for Sahur, embracing KL at 4am in the morning.  Banker’s all psyched up for a Sahur buffet so we are gonna look for one to go in the weekend.

Iftar plans are usually made with the husband.. We love Ramadhan bazaar hopping… but we love buffets too. Shang ri la’s our favourite, but I personally like Hilton’s food layout too. Whatever the buffet is, Arab food buffet is my ultimate favourite – Hummus, Lebanese bread and Lamb – my perfect iftar menu.

We try to do things for others too in Ramadhan. Among other charities, I try to donate something every day. It’s good that I work for UIA and they are big on organizing donations drive there. My input is to a particular box at the office.  Hope that helps.. it does help me mentally and psychologically.

I’m glad I am a teacher, every hour of the day. It does give me some good vibes now that Ramadhan is here. Plus, unlike the consulting job which I had to endure in last year’s Ramadhan – teaching is not mundane, teaching is so full of life and I love laughing with my kids in the class. I so do hope – that teaching keeps me young too.

As for Ramadhan – teaching makes it more fulfilling.

Multiple Jobs

There is no substitute for hard work – Thomas Edison

Can’t remember the time when I could wake up at 9am and just do nothing till noon time. I am longing for those long mornings, afternoons and evenings where I could just kick back amd relax!

Time is of the essence when you are running your own place. You are running. And it just won’t stop.

The best thing about it is that you are able to work at your own pace- things will move fast when you move fast, and if you’re a slow coach then all will be left behind. And you can’t be left behind because there’s too much investment at risk.

Essentially why I am still juggling two jobs at the moment. Wow it ain’t easy with the commuting from Kota Dsara to Gombak, and thanks to the help of DUKE Hi-way, I am able to do it within 35 minutes one way.

I’ve lost all my Saturdays and Sundays to Pingu already, call that the ultimate devotion but that’s just the way it is. I see myself doing this for a strecth of a long time before I can get into my kick-off mode. Now, with multiple jobs, there’s not much to loaf around for.

Wish me luck, and may I overcome the fears and embrace the pain that lies ahead. And may the pain be also filled with joys, even if it means- multiple jobs.

This blog is back with a bang.

This must have been the longest interval ever. I am surprised at my low level of discipline when it comes to updating this blog. It surely represents the bad time manager I actually am.

Must have been soooo preoccupied with the great Pingu launch to sit down and write. But, writing is in me, within me… I don’t need to find time to write it, I just need to find the privacy of a laptop and thyself. It’s not easy to do so when you’re sleeping with a man who constantly shares with you his idea of a great life.. etc etc yawn yawn yawn … makes me fall asleep eventually!

Project Alaska was launched on 17th July 2010, ever since then we have been up and running… classes are going on every day now and I am swamped like mud. Literally! I have to work every single freaking day of my life… the odd part is that I’m lovin’ it. It doesn’t feel like work, it feels like going to a 2nd home with kitchen and all. And yes, we have good coffee over there too ))

This blog is back with a new bang! There’s gonna be updates and updates and insights into my brain! Good to be back.