Relieved ... Not Relieved ...

Sheesh! It's that darn dastar episode again! I finally returned all the stuff we borrowed this afternoon. The lady we worked things out before wasn't around so her assistant (or whoever) checked the stuff for us. She didn't realise the 'different' dastar at first and went straight to seek her chief's initial for approval.

Being honest, which me and my colleagues should be, we told her what happened with the lost dastar and the replacements. She was surprised, half scolding, half blaming me for not informing her before hand, now that her officer had signed the form. Okay, my mistake. So then, she called the chief to talk to us. So, I explained the situation again, A-Z.

Me: So, here's the replacements for the missing dastar. Our student lost one and I couldn't find the exact pattern and colour of the dastar we borrowed. Here's 3 new dastars that I could find.
C: You lost one, but replaced with 3.
Me: Yes.
C: This is bribery!!
Me: Oh no! We didn't mean to ...
C: So why are you giving us 3 dastars? You should just give us 1 and take the 2 for your school to use in future.
Me: Oh no, we believe we should pay for the loss. At least, with 3 dastars it'll be a new set instead of having just 1 different dastar from the rest you have here.
C: You don't understand. We have serial codes for all items. These, we can't record in ...
Me: Alright, now we understand ... But we are really sorry for the loss and I insist that you keep the 3 dastars we give you here. You have no idea how hard it was for me to look for the same patterns of songket. These are just the closest and most similar to yours. We're really sorry.
C: *quiet*

Sigh! Darn it! I knew I'd be in trouble, I could feel it! They're gonna contact me soon after they've talked to their higher-ranked officer. Guys! I am sooooo in trouble! A million thanks to that b****y kid!!! Grrr!!! :@

PS: I went to watch Branden Frasier-Jet Li's "The Mummy 3". What happened this afternoon really spoiled my day, and the movie! Besides, I wasn't happy knowing Evy, Rick's wife, was played by someone else ~ and she's not even cute!! Errrgh!!

*Breathe in .... Breathe out*

Calories Consumption Day

I woke up and felt so hungry. Thank God I could stop myself from cooking those tempting noodles!! Thanks to mum who offered me the sandwiches. Well, I had two eggs and mayonaise with 'em though. Sigh! I realised that lately I've been consuming lots of different kinds of food, and of DOUBLE amount than usual. Look at my hands and fingers in the pictures in the post before this. My eyes widened seeing 'em, erk! Even Danny commented that I've gained weight huhuhu :S

At 2pm, I reached Yayasan in Bandar picking up Irman. We headed to Didi's place for our meeting. It was fruitful, especially with HL's presence. Irman took out his 2 packets of Hershey's chocolates. Of course, I couldn't resist them! We all had our fair share I'm sure! By 3.30pm, the meeting adjourned, having all tasks given to everyone. My part is to inform the participants in the workshop to prepare their students' personal files for the ORT Programme, which is following the SPN21 demands. Hope we all will do well. We WILL do well!! :D

For tea, we had sooooo much food! Didi is such a doll! She prepared lots of 'kueh' and HL bought us some more cakes. Raheemah also baked us her fabulous brownies! Just look at all the calories we had here! Delicious and fattening of course! I feel fatter already huhuhu :S

PS: On the way to Yayasan picking up Irman, I saw a group of policemen walking towards the headquarter. That puzzled me. Then I remembered Irman telling me that the main road to Yayasan was closed. What could have happened?? As soon as Irman entered my car, he blurted out what had happened. 3 women passed away in the 'parade' fighting for the B$30 coupon at the SOAS Field. Quite a number of others were in critical condition at the hospital. Sigh! So sad .....

5 Hours Sleep :-O

:-O I'm still sleepy but can't really let myself to bed. I've a meeting with the ORT Team later. Our sharing session for August's gonna start this Saturday so having got little idea about the ORT Programme, we decided to meet today, though it's a holiday :-O so sleeeeepy ......

Work was fine yesterday and I was glad my proposal for next year's reading programme is approved :) I even have the 'budget' to buy a whole set of ORT Programme for our school, yeaay!! I gotta discuss with the other teachers first though whether they like 'em or not. They are the ones gonna use 'em in the end anyway.

At 2pm, I had lunch at Desa Cafe with Sharul. I had "Prawn Lemak Chilli with rice" and "Fishball Tanghoon Soup". Sharul only had Iced Milo. The food's great! I'm definitely going back there again next time :) From there, we went to Seria (me slept all the way, tired bah!). I still needed to find a similar 'songket' for the lost 'dastar'. I met the kid who lost it 3 days ago, telling him it took me months looking for it, going highs and lows. He just changed the topic, WITHOUT APOLOGISING!! How annoying!! Kids nowadays, make us shake heads! At Seria yesterday, we did find the same songket pattern but it was PINK! Huhu :( we found another, now of similar colour and of gold threads. But we decided to have another search at Kuala Belait.

In KB, we stepped into several numbers of textile shops. We finally found 99% similar songket, only to find out that it was a ready-made 'sinjang' for KIDS! So of course, I went pissed!! By 6pm, we drove back to Seria, given up hope but to buy the one we found earlier. Knowing that the Ministry would be unhappy learning about the lost dastar, I decided to buy 3 metres of the songket, making it 3 dastars, not 1. In other words, I'm giving 2 extra dastars, as an apology. Hope they'd see how hard I'd looked for the dastar replacements ....

I got home at almost 10pm. I texted Arzi, apologizing for my late reply. He texted me at 6pm before but I was so pissed over our encounter at KB that I just couldn't be bothered to reply. I told him that I had found a similar dastar and he congratulated me. He knew I was looking so hard for it. He sent his last text saying he missed me, hehee :p Jiwang nya mamat sorang ni! ;)

I learnt how to make dastar out of the songket from a tailor working at the textile shop where I bought the songket from. So last night, I managed to finally make 5 of them, having made a failure of the first one :p Arzek and Nurul became the models where I tested the dastars ;) I went to bed roughly at 3am and woke up at after 8am this morning.

Hmm ... I do hope the Ministry would accept the ones I replaced with, or else ... We'll be blacklisted huhuhu :( [Sigh!] 5 hours sleep and in a few hours, I'll head for the meeting. HL will be with us. Gotta take cups of coffee later to keep awake huhuhu :S HL is garang! :S

Konichiwa! Arigato! Aishiteru! ;)

Konichiwa! Arigato! Aishiteru!

Those are the three phrases that I learnt today. There were a lot more but I can't really remember hehhe.

At 2.15pm , I reached the Ministry for an interview session for students' exchange programme to Japan end of the year. The selected ones will fly off to Japan on 30th November and return to Brunei on 7th December, the SAME dates of our Brunei-Singapore Camp. Danny and I are so hoping we could go to Japan with the kids but we have commitments here. Our chief said that our turn will come, we just have to wait :)

I had a good time during the interview. Most of the students were fluent and socially active in school. They also have talents in playing musical instruments, singing and dancing. We were very impressed with this one female candidate who can speak Japanese. The interviewee from the Japanese Embassy was impressed too. The candidate learnt Japanese in her school CCA Club and from the anime she watches. I bet she'd get selected :D

The session was so enjoyable! We had quite a number of funny responses from the candidates. Here are a few hehehe:
===========================================================

Officer 1: So, do you have health problem?
Student A: No.
Me: Are you allergic to anything?
Student A: No.
Danny: Seafood? Meat?
Student A: No.
Officer 1: Allergic to animals?
Student A: No.
Officer 1: Like cats?
Student A: No.
Officer 2: Dinosour?
Student A: *blank*
Interviewees (except Officer 2): Laughed LOL!!!

===========================================================

Danny: Ok. If you were selected, what are the 3 things you will need to bring?
Student B: One, toothbrush.
Interviewees: Toothbrush??!!
Student B: Yes.
Danny: Hmmm ... Ok, what else?
Student B: A big pile of clothes.
Danny: Ok, what else?
Student B: Logbook.
Me: Right. Are you sure that's all you need?
Student B: Yes.
Danny: Ok, ok. Imagine you were selected, what do you need to show officers at the Airport?
Student B: *Blank*
Me: (Held a pen) Would you show your toothbrush to them?
Student B: *Blushed* No. I'd show them my passport.
Interviewees: *Laughed*
Student B: But, but! For me toothbrush is very very important!! (Still blushing).
Me: You can buy one in Japan dear ;p
Student B: *Blush*

===========================================================

Officer 1: So, do you have any health problem?
Student C: No. I am perfectly healthy.
Me: Say, if I asked you to run for 4km, would you still be fine?
Student C: Yes. But I will feel tired.
Me and Danny: *Raised an eyebrow* (Doh!!)

===========================================================

Officer 1: Now, you told us you're very active. Do you have any health problem?
Student D: No. I don't have any health problem.
Officer 1: Do you have allergies to anything?
Student D: Hmm ... No.
Me: Are you sure? You're not allergic to seafood?
Officer 2: Or meat?
Danny: Anything?
Student D: Hmm ... No. But I'm allergic to dust.
Me: *Abrupt response* Dust??! Everyone is allergic to dust dear ...
Officer 2: So what will happen to you if you inhale dust?
Me: Do you get asthmatic from it?
Student D: No.
Danny: Then?
Student D: I sneeze.
Interviewees: LOL!! (Doh!!!)

===========================================================

By 4.30pm, Danny and I left the Ministry. We had to send an email to an officer in Singapore concerning our December Camp. When we got ourselves comfortable in a restaurant, we forgot about everything that we we just sat down and enjoyed our afternoon tea with beef and chicken "satay" and "ketupat". We knew we had to do something but we had forgotten what it was. When the Camp topic came up, we then jumped off remembering to send the mail!! OMG! We have so many things to do that we forget things so easily. Seems like our brain is saturated with all the info it receives each day [sigh!].

Before parted, we went into a DVD shop. I bought 2 DVD series, "Traveler". I think it's a new series and it seems interesting. The DVD costs $4 each but we could get it for $10 if we bought 3 DVDs. I couldn't find anymore DVD, same with Danny. He only wanted to buy 2 DVDs. So, he took the 4 DVDs to the counter, paid them for $14, instead of $16. Returning back $7 to me, I said, "Nice doing business with ya!" Danny's eyes widened, telling me as we left the shop, "I was just about to say that to you!" :)

"We're soulmate," I told him.
"Haha, I guess so!" :p

YeaahoOo!!

It was well paid off! I went to d'Other Office Restaurant in Serusup to meet Danny yesterday morning. I needed his help on finding cheap airfare to KL. Boy and Diana had just told me their decision to go to KL buying their wedding gifts the night before. Thanks to Danny for his help, though I'd to drag him away from his extra work that day (it was Sunday and yes, he also had work to do even in weekends. He's a workaholic!!). In return, I treated him breakfast. He had "Mee Rebus", I had "Lontong". We then dragged on looking for airfares online for our December vacations :)

By 11am, we finally decided to go to Phuket instead of Tioman Island. Apparently he was worried of the thought of me staying overnight in Johor waiting for the next flight to Bangkok while he flies off back to Brunei. Awwwe! He loves me!! Hehe :) Don't misunderstood us. We're just friends. Close friends ;)

So, here's the plan:

15/12 - Brunei --> Miri --> KL --> Phuket [vacation here till 18/12]

18/12 - Phuket --> Bangkok [vacation (& shopping) here till 24/12]

24/12 - Bangkok --> KL --> Miri --> Brunei

Looks like I'm on the move there huh! Well, I'm loving it so far!!

By 11am, we left to The Mall to the Abacus Fare. This is when most Bruneians buy cheap tickets to almost everywhere around the world. I needed to look for the Bangkok ticket price for Irman. He would be leaving to Bangkok from Brunei so he needs the Brunei Airlines fare ticket. As for mine and Danny's, we're buying the Air Asia's. Saving budgets really ;) So far, he's bringing his nephew, Akif, while my elder sister, Zima, and younger brother, Bahri, will be joining me. So, there'll be 5 of us going to Thailand this December, yeahooo!! :D

By almost 1pm, we left The Mall and went our separate ways. I headed to Yanti's place, helping out with decorating her brother's wedding 'hantarans' (gifts for the bride). I didn't do much as they had started decorating since morning. By 3pm, I left and met Sharul. He helped me to find a tailor for my 'kebaya' for Nana's wedding this Sunday. While browsing through the 'bajus' at the boutique, I saw this cool deco for the 'bajus'. We found out that it was sold in Hokko in Mabohai. So, off we went there to buy 4 meters of it, which cost me $3 per metre. Not bad. Personally, I have something against the cloth for 'bajus' to be made 'holes' as a deco. First, it's expensive. Secondly, sayang kain laaaa! :p

Oh yea, before going to Hokko, Sharul carried Daniel out to the boutique. Daniel is his cousin's son. My God!! He's sooooo big and fat for a year old!! Sharul told me he eats almost everything, you mention it! I was like, OMG!! Ironically, this toddler's mum is a nurse, Gosh! Daniel's adorable :) Sharul was jealous when Daniel was comfortable with me in just a few minutes while usually he doesn't like strangers ehhehehe :p Apalaaa! Dengan kanak-kanak pun jeless ka ekekkee ...

~~ He's chubby, ain't he!! Kamvang ehhh arah auntie!! Hehehe :p ~~

From the boutique, I went home straight. The time showed almost 5pm. Diana and I went online to buy the Mas Airlines air tickets to KL this March but she then realised she forgot to bring her passport so off she went to get it. While waiting for her to come back, I booked 3 tickets for myself, Zean and Jimah for B$190 (only!!) per person. The B$190 price is for the tax and we get the air fare for free. It's a promo from 14th to 27th July, which was yesterday. Phew, we were lucky!

Well, not so lucky enough for Boy, Diana, Puchen and Ernie. Just after I logged off the page, they got the price rose up to B$268 per person!! Just before that, it was B$229, which made Zima to think twice to buy it. When she found out it had risen to B$268, she was so pissed that she cancelled the trip. Then, Diana went online again, to find the price fell to B$229!! Now, Diana was pissed and Zima jumped like hell! And sure, she bought the B$229 ticket straight away hehe. She bought one for Bahri too. Her friend, Ernie, bought the ticket for B$268, seconds after Zima logged off. Now, Diana felt much better hehhehee :)

I dined out after everyone had got the tickets online. Hahaha! Before leaving, Diana thanked me, saying, "Thanks for making it happens. And thanks 4268." I was like ... What's 4268??" She hesitated and finally said, "Thanks FOR 268, the ticket ..." Hahaha! Then I got it!!! "Whoopss!!" :p But yeahooo I am going to KL this March!!! :D

I reached Aranda Cafe at d'Angrek Hotel at 8pm. I was supposed to meet Arzi. I had cancelled our date the night before and yesterday afternoon he asked me out again. So yeah, I went to see him there. I had my dinner without him as I was too hungry :p By 8.30pm, he came. We had a quick chit chat as it was already late. By 9.30pm, we went downstairs, me wanting to go home. It was a downpour outside that we waited for it to calm at the lobby area. We chatted for a few more minutes then went to my car. It was yet another 30 minutes talk. We had't met for quite a while so it was a catching up indeed :) By 10.30pm, we parted. I got home just before 11pm.

Before bed, Arzi sent me dozens of messages. Hahaha, jiwang tia lapas jumpa ekekkee. Well, I had a good time though :) In fact, I had a good time the whole day yesterday!!! :D

FuhhyooO!!!

First, I managed preparing a proposal for a project for 2009. I do hope it will be approved. Secondly, I went to visit a colleague's wife at the hospital with Johnny. She had been having difficulty in delivering the baby for the past 3 days :( We're relieved when we got to the ward, she had just given birth to a baby girl. We also had a look at the 'active' baby hehe. She's 3.2 kg and so clever! Just an hour old, she managed to suck her thumb by moving her head away from the plastic covering. She's being under doctor's supervision. We hope she'll be fine :)

We went to the first floor visiting Suria. That girl didn't even tell me and Johnny that she had her arm operation this morning. I found out from Johnny who had learnt about it from Mas. We were like ....... Suriaaaaa!!! :@ When we entered the ward, she was lying, surprised seeing us approaching her bed. We mengamok la of course! She said she didn't want to worry anyone! Well, one, she's a friend. A close one. Of course we should be worried!! Two, professionally, I am her Head of Department. I should know about it, cheh!! But she is fine otherwise and that is the most important thing :) So, she's forgiven hehe. She'll be on leave for two weeks. Lulu's definitely gonne kill her when she reports back to work ekekeke :p

From the hospital, I drove to the ministry to attend a meeting on the programme that I am in-charge of in the month of August. I met Irman and Raheemah at the meeting. Missed them so! The Director of Schools dropped by and had a quick chat with us. She's a nice lady. The team's gonna make sure the programme's going on well ma'am! You can count on us ;)

Arzi texted me, booking me to watch Tanglong Festival in Bandar tonight. Honestly, I wanted to see it but deep inside I wanted to go with my family or better yet, with Sharul. He didn't text me at all!! When I got home, I asked everyone whether they'd like to go but nobody was interested :( Even Sharul did not text me up!! So I agreed to meet Arzi, not to see the Tanglong (it wouldn't be nice, I felt so) but to have a drink instead. So we promised to meet at 8pm.

Then came Boy, my brother. 3 days ago he asked me whether I'd like accompany him to KL to buy stuff for his wedding. I was like .... Wedding?? He didn't even sit down and discuss it with my parents! That's the difference between us girls and men huh! They don't discuss. They instruct.

There happens to be a travel fair at the moment so he and Diana, the girlfriend, went to look for a package to KL. Gosh! It's so expensive for a 3-night stay there. So , I helped them out with the online tickets and accomodations. I'd to cancel my date with Arzi. He understood and helped me with the tips for cheap hotels in KL. Thanks dear ;)

So, it's set now! We'll be in KL from 21st to 24th March next year and we'll be staying at Coronade Hotel. The shopping malls nearby are just perfect for the couple :) When I checked my phone, Sharul did text me, asking me out tonight but it was too late then :(

Now, I gotta re-confirm my flights to Johor and Bangkok. The air fare to Chiangmai is B$402, which is waaaaaaay cheaper than the online ticket but I'm going to Bangkok, NOT Chiangmai. Thanks Diana for finding it out for me :) I will be meeting Danny at 8am tomorrow to solve this problem then I will proceed to The Mall to survey on the tickets to Bangkok for me and Irman. Hopefully it's cheaper than the online's, which is B$677 at the moment :(

Oh by the way, Zean and Yanti are coming with us to KL yeayy!!! :D I'm gonna drag my elder sister along too! It's gonna be a lot of fun!! :)

One Breath & She's His

Alhamdulillah. Nana, my cousin, is now officially Ari's wife :) The function started at 2.30pm. By 3.45pm, the groom and a bus of his family members arrived to claim Nana's hands. All went fine and with just one breath, she's his :) Their wedding will be next week, 3rd August. Another cousin of mine, Farizal, Yanti's brother, will get married a week after Nana's. So weekly, you guys are gonna see pictures of my cousins' weddings and other ceremonies here :)

Nana was so sweet looking with her white nikah dress. I love her dress and accessories!! She did tell me where she had rent it but silly me, I didn't write it down. I think I'm gonna drop by the boutique one day, you know, when my time has come. Hmmm ... When's THAT gonna be??

Well, that's one thing I don't find fun during family gatherings, especially weddings. The old ones would never fail asking "When's your turn??" It's like, the most uttered question ever in a day!! Sometimes, it replaces the normal "Hi, how are you?" question, even asked by the younger cousins. Doy lai! Mun ada dangan, kawin ku tu ... Jangan tah watir!! :p

Here are some shots taken on Nana's Nikah Ceremony. Congratulations guys! :)

~~ Getting ready ~~~ On the aisle. They look great together huh :) ~~

~~~ Congratulations guys!! :D ~~~

~~~ A memoir with us on the aisle. Mine's soon (I hope, erk!) ~~~

~~ The bride with my elder sister ~~~ and with me :) ~~

~~ Everyone's having fun, even the bride herself hehe :p ~~

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The Hantarans

Yea!! It's The Video!! :D

The first time I heard this song on the radio, I was like .... Lawa jua lagu ani!!! I remember I was driving to work that morning. Since that day, it's been played every single morning and I'd wonder why it wouldn't be on air in some mornings. Then that one day, I was in the car with Sharul when it was played again. I raised the volume and Sharul got the same impact. He even thought that it's sung by some American singers. Haha! Nope! It's by Hans Anuar and Putri Norizah, our own local singers!! He was like ..... What?? No way!! Lawa jua!!! :D

Yesterday, on the way home from Gadong, Putri Norizah was being interviewed by this Kristal FM DJ. I learnt then that we could get the "24 Hours" videoclip on Youtube. Being away last night, I wasn't able to look for it but this morning, I managed to download it! Yea!! I still love this song!

People! Enjoy the song! :) You go guys!!! Keep 'em coming ;)

Oh Haziq!!!

Remember him?? My cute lil cuzzie! :D We gathered at our uncle's place tonight, doing some help out as tomorrow is my cousin's Nikah Ceremony. I was so busy that I didn't realise it was tomorrow. I came home, went online then my mum told me about it and I was like ... huh? That's how *blank* I've been lately as my brain's got too many things to process even in a day. Or maybe, just maybe, that I am getting older by the day huhuhu :S

So, we did some helping out; packing the 'kueh' into the plastic bags bla bla bla. By 8.45pm, all were done and our aunt served us dinner. Man! She's a good cook!! I was full after my early dinner with Sharul this afternoon (after watching the X-Files movie). Oh by the way, we had it at Ahan-Thai and I ordered Tanghoon Seafood Soup and Fried Tanghoon Seafood. I had them with Ginger Tea. Sharul just had the normal glass of Cocktail. We surfed the Net while having meals.

So, back to tonight. During dinner, our lil cuzzie, Haziq, was sitting on my lap while his mom was feeding him. So, I helped him with a glass of water in between. But this one time, I didn't realise that he was still chewing when I put the glass to his mouth. Everyone laughed when he snapped me, "Not yet! I'm eating!" Hahaha!! Just brilliant! After dinner, we the young ones (yes, I'd like to think that I'm included!!), hung around the living room area where the aisle was set up. Haziq was sooooo cute with his funny replies and brilliant actions!

Nurul, being the silliest adult in the group created this game: She'd say, "Who sits the last is a loser!" So, Haziq, being a fast learner, he understood the game well. She created lots of actions from 'sit' to 'stand', move on to 'sleep' and 'hold tummy'. He could do it all. Of course he learnt the actions from his cheeky elder brother, Wafiy :D The funniest part was when Nurul said, "Who farts the last is a loser!" And the lil genius one was trying so hard to do so, having his funny reddish face ... to fart!! Hilarious!!! LOL!

I took a few shots of Haziq and my family using my phone. I didn't bring my camera, again! Look at the kid here! Ain't he a cutie!!! Every picture of him here shows some of his dozens of different face expressions! I just love this kid!!! :D

Hahaha! The kid at the very front is Wafiy. Behind him is their sister, Jimah. Haziq's sitting on my sister's lap. Next to her is the bride-to-be, Nana, and of course the crazy-girl-look-a-like is Nurul ekekeke :p

Haziq in different mood swings ;) He can be a cutie but bad-tempered the next minute. He is also a curious boy. Most of the time, he's really expressive of what he 'knows' about hehehe. What a funny kid!! :D

I Want To Believe

Sounds familiar?? Yup! I went to see it just now! It was so funny when I realised that I DIDN'T HAVE my regular afternoon meetings in my schedule that I said out loud "Yey! I'm FREE today!!!" :D My colleagues were laughing and Razak handed out today's newspaper a moment after I said my thought out loud "I'm soooo gonna watch movie today!" Heheee ... Thanks dude! ;)

So yea! I texted Sharul to book tickets for two for the 1.30pm show today. At 1.15pm, he drove us to Qlap Mall and we watched "The X-Files" ~ I Want To Believe. Gosh! I love that movie! I mean, I watched every single episode of it when I was in high school! Me and sister were so crazy about it, thinking that there WERE really unsolved mystery cases out there .... (... the X-Files background music ...) :p

Now, this might freak you guys out but really! I was so excited watching it that I couldn't stop myself taking a few snaps of the movie ekekeke! Sharul glanced at me with an eyebrow raised. He was like .... is she alright?? Hehehe! Well, enjoy the pix people!! :D

Agent Scully. Owh, correction! Doctor Scully! ;)

Fox Mulder: messy and in denial ...

Back in the team :)

Cleaner and Sexier!!! Grrr! ;)