Of birthday and weekend events :)

Before i start with my story abt the weekend, i would love to thank some lovely people for their well wishers; darling hubby, CK, KC, Mint, KuE, Sheryl, Fariz my SIL, King, Ana, Abby, etc. All of you really make my day and i'm still smiling from one ear to another *wide grin* I will go for lunch with my boss and colleague to Grappa's, across the road at Menara Olympia, which serves good set lunch normally consist of pasta or pizza set, together with dessert.. yum.. yum :) Other than that, i may buy a cake after work to share with hubby, kids and maybe my in-laws. Hmmm.. why not i just persuade hubby to celebrate it at MIL's place so that we get to eat together-gather, hehehe.

Anyways, i just can't forget what happened over the weekend. Early Saturday morning Molly sms me an invite to go for lunch in Bukit Jelutong. Kinda a blessing in disguise that my dad had to work till night made us cancelled our trip to my parents' house that Saturday. After C picked Simba up from his taekwando class, i got ready as we promised Molly to meet up at the Batu Tiga toll around 12.30pm. We're running a bit late but managed to meet up with Molly around 12.45 and reached Bkt Jelutong before 1.15pm. Eventho we reached Bkt Jelutong quite early, we didn't manage to find that particular road we're looking for. We ended up going round and round in that area. Molly finally called her fren and she told Molly that her hubby will pick us up from where we were. When i got down from the car, i was quite shock and very excited to see that Molly's fren's hubby is actually my ex-colleague :) It's really a small world after all bcoz i met this ex-colleague a few times in late March as current his ofis is quite near to mine. I had permission from the host to invite Sara and Sara came joined us around 2.30pm. Molly, Sara and i had a great time catching up with the generous host, who cooked rice with delicious dishes of masak asam, gulai udang, mix vegie, yummy spiral pasta, together with samosa, cup cakes and traditional kuih muih as desserts :D

After i got home that Saturday, i received an unexpected phone call from Puan Saidah, my ex-STF teacher. She told me that she'll come to KL by bus the next day for a wedding in Rawang and asked me whether me & C can join her or not. After consulting C, C agreed to help me pick Pn Saidah up from Puduraya and take us to Rawang. I was actually very eager to go eventho my invitation to the wedding reception was only an extension from Pn Saidah's. I'm alwiz excited to go to wedding receptions. Eventho i didn't have much expectation before we reach Rawang, the trip was really a memorable one bcoz i met some of my juniors from school. We were greated by familiar faces like Anna, Lini, Jaysree, Feroza, Nina, Maria, Diana and Anis, besides the bride, Mona, herself. Above all, Pn Saidah was also so happy that she got to meet her ex-teacher when she was in her secondary, who's fortunately the bride's mother.

After Pn Saidah, me and C savored the lauk kenduri, which was so yummy, C sent me and Pn Saidah to Quality Hotel, KL. K.Sue and K.Wa, who jointly head the recent MMP committee, gave us a treat for the job well done. C was so sweet to let me "temankan" Pn Saidah till she go back to JB that evening while he went back to my parents' place to be with the kids. The so "kenyang" us [me and Pn Saidah] joined the feast at Quality together with the rest of the MMP committee members. Eeee.. bayangkan la dah kenyang makan kenduri.. sampai kat Quality boleh makan lagi tu. Can't help it as the buffet spread was not bad and some food really looked good :) K.Sue, K.Wa and some of the members took the opportunity to discuss some GJC related matters with Pn Saidah.

After Ryzah and i sent Pn Saidah to Puduraya, i took the LRT back to Gombak. I'm sure my mom was not so happy with me for not spending much time at her house eventho she didn't say much. But, to ambik hati Mak, we stayed there till abt 10pm. I should ambik hati dia coz she even remembered to bake me her delicious choc cake. Last time when me and Ziela was still small, Mak never bother to celebrate any of our birthdays. We never have any birthday dos. Even when i started to learn to celebrate birthdays while i was in STF, Mak even scolded me for buying her a small present. I think at that time she's concern of me buying unnecessary things and will not have money to spend when i really need it. Mak is definitely very careful with her spending, and still is so i'm not surprise if she has more savings than me :)

Anyways, back to the Mak's delicious choc cake, the kids were so happy when we gathered together around the cake. Their eyes were just sparkling looking at the cake :) After they sang me the "Allah selamatkan kami" birthday song, i cut the cake and served them. Semua happy sebab dapat makan cake sampai tak cukup one piece per person.. esp Simba and Mohsin. I think Simba alone ate 3 pieces!! :) Mak packed for me half of the balance of the cake, together with other lauk pauk as usual.

Since this is actually a delayed story oredi eventho the date up there is still 17th April, i'm not going to continue this story as it's oredi a cerita basi :) Anyhow, 17th April went great with celebrations with colleague and family. C bought me a choc cheese cake which we shared with my inlaws. The next day i bought 2 cakes and shared with the rest of staff in my department :) All in all, i can regard this birthday as a meaningful one :D

Note on 26th April:
Nona Maria has planned to have a gathering for the Lembing gang this coming Sun, 30th April at the Chatters Cafe in Taipan. We'll be there from around 2.30pm.

Peekchure Time :)

Simba in his taekwando suit

practising his kick :)

Kids enjoying their lunch in Alamanda. At that time Mohsin just had his hair cut :)

Tiga sekawan di balik pokok? Hehehe, i just love this pix coz all of them look so cheeky :)

The 2 sisters, Faie and Milia [at Alamanda, Putrajaya]. Faie also just had her hair cut at that time.
Recent pix of the 2 brothers :)
Faie dok call bf :) and Mohsin nak jadi "Mat Pot" *LOL*

The ever manja Milia with teddy from Acik Alish :D

Milia, Mohsin, Syakira and Faie. Pix taken on Sunday, 9th Apr, after we went to the kenduri depan rumah. Syakira will come over to our house almost every weekdays to play with Faie, Mohsin and Milia.

The 2 lovely buddies :D Hope they'll stay frens forever...
Minah bunga? No la! They found the flower at the kenduri and without me realizing, they took it home... opppsss..

Thanx a million to Aunty CK for putting up these pix for us :) Also thanx to Papa for downloading them from the digi camera :)

Kids playmate..

We've been in the present house for more than 3 years bcoz we moved in a few months after Mohsin was born. We were squatting at MIL's place for a few months before and after my 3rd confinement while waiting for the change of house title by the land ofis then. The only neighbours i've been communicating with for the 3 years are Kak Ani [whose house on my right], Makcik Aminah [rumah belakang coz dapur dia belakang my dapur] and Bibik, a helper in the house next to Makcik Aminah's. I know it's pethatic but i can't help it. I normally go to work when all my neighbours are still doing house chores in their house and in the evening when i come back, they maybe very busy preparing dinner oredi :( I know Kak Sham who lives 2 doors to my left eventho we never speak. Is it me or is it them? Oh well, i just blame myself first. So rose, next assignment is to get to know thy neighbour la *issshhh.. shame on me sungguh*

Anyways, since the start of GJC, i got to know that Nola lives in the same house with Bibik, which means Bibik is Nola's helper. Nola is one of the "fresh from the oven" Srikandis who helped out during the recent dinner. I invited her to come over for the first meeting i attended [which was held at MCOBA] so that she can get to know her seniors. After throwing some questions to her, it's so funny when i got to know that Nola actually lives in the same area with me and Faie, Mohsin and Milia are actually playmates to her younger sis, Syakira. Syakira who is 4, is abt the same age with Mohsin.

Syakira will come over to my house after her afternoon nap to play with Faie, Mohsin and Milia. Whenever she doesn't come, my kids will go over to her house to play. I really don't mind any of my kids' frens coming over bcoz i normally don't let my kids going over to people's house. My only worry is the frens' parents don't like my kids or other kid[s] messing around their house. Kadang2 tu orang tak suka tapi tak nak cakap so it's quite hard to predict.

Yesterday i invited Nola and Syakira over to my house coz nak ajak depa pegi kenduri of another neighbour's daughter. Nola declined as her family didn't get the invitation. But as soon as i put down the phone with Nola, i heard my helper calling Faie's name. Syakira came over to play with the kids so the kids asked her to join them watching Wallace & Gromit, Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Hairan bin ajaib betul my kids boleh tengok Wallace & Gromit everyday. Pantang C & i sampai rumah, mesti nak menjerit coz C will let them watch Wallace & Gromit. Jangan kata budak-budak tu je yang minat, C pun boleh duduk with them, layan depa tengok Wallace & Gromit. Sheeessshh, tak boring ke? :) Anyways, i was actually getting ready to go to the kenduri at that time. Bila dah siap, i just dragged all of them including Syakira to the kenduri :) They all look as if they are all my own kids eventho Syakira nampak comel sikit. I took some pix of them after we came back from the kenduri yesterday. Will share later after C has downloaded them and send to me :) Just hope the kids will be frens with each other for years to come..

Dah lega sikit... phew :)

Hehe.. this is going to be a lonnngggg entry people. Hope you'll enjoy reading with my bahasa yang tunggang langgang tu.. huhu *wink*

Now that the futsal and dinner are over.. rasa macam lega sikit :) Unlike 2 weeks ago as whenever my phone rang, the call will be either from Lerq, or Molly, or Ina, or Ryzah, or any Srikandis asking me abt this and that. These are also the same people i normally look for bila tak tau apa nak buat.. or nak buat yang mana dulu :) Now that both events are over, i kinda miss calling them or getting calls from them :? Buttt, i think we'll still get to interact with each other once in a while as we still have another project to work on. As this project is not under alumni fully so number of Srikandis i'll meet up will be limited to certain people...

The futsal was great :) Hubby's batchmates pun hantar satu team and they had fun eventho there were small glitches at the beginning. They didn't win but they lost with style, hehehe. Reviews we got from futsal attendees were rata-rata "eee...bestnya..rasa macam masa PPM dulu.." :D Coming from a person who never get to attend any of the PPM events masa kat sekolah dulu [banyak reasons which 2 of them are: 1- mom never allow me to go anywhere during school holidays :(, and 2- i never represent school :( :( ], i felt very much the PPM spirit coz the cheering squads were really loud... betul-betul macam battle of the SBPs.. Habis bergegar Rio tu dibuat dek all the supporters :) Yang menjerit, menyanyi, hentak kaki atas bench, doa followed by silence.. pendek kata "MACAM-MACAM ADA" :D After hearing no complaints but requests from many teams to do this futsal event annually, lega hati organizer. Berbaloi sungguh penat lelah Jaja and her team mates :)

After packing up things from futsal, we moved on with the very last week of preparation for our Srikandi dinner, Makan Malam Perdana at Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel. Persuading more people at the 11th hour to attend so that we'll get a full hall was one of the hardest job as the interested lot have oredi given their confirmation much much earlier. But, as we the organizing committee is very much aware that there are still many Srikandis out there who are not aware of the event, we had to inform people by various means still. Last minute phone calls, sms-es and e-mails were sent to all groups, from the most seniors of the 60s to the most juniors of 2005, who are still "fresh from the oven". But alhamdulillah, we managed to fill up all tables with corporates and Srikandis. Maybe some have used up the tactics of mentioning names like Dato Hishamuddin the Education Minister, ever famous Anuar Zain and the handsome actor Fahrin Ahmad :D We had Hani Mohsin, looking so macho in bright orange baju Melayu complete with sampin, as main MC for that nite.

OK, side-track sikit.. Betul.. Fahrin Ahmad pun datang. It's by invitation from the Srikandi futsal team he coached for free earlier. Many have set their eyes on him masa kat futsal tourney tapi tak berani nak datang dekat coz masa tu tak sure whether he's really Fahrin or not so semua dok pandang dari jauh je la. But during the dinner, many didn't want to miss the opportunity to take 'up and close' personal pictures with him. He's so nice to entertain all his fans by chatting and taking pictures with them with smile on his face all the time. Tak sombong langsung pun :)

After a semi-serious speech by Dato Hishamuddin, speech by Tg Zizi the Srikandi patron was so entertaining. Many times people can't stop from laughing so hard, including Dato Hishamuddin, when she opened up many secrets of the past. Kalau nak kata budak STF nakal, i think semua budak SBP sama nakalnya. But her speech unfolded many fond memories of the school among the Srikandis. Among the best cerita ceriti are [plus some cerita of others], pura-pura sakit so that boleh keluar pegi hospital, signed own permission letters [konon from their parents] to stay overnight at frens' house, learnt speedwriting when copying frens' homeworks before passing up books, ran 500m with kain baju kurung lifted up to knee chasing for food at dining hall, passing by particular classes sebab nak tengok some particular pet-sisters or teachers, walked around the school compound before dinner, and many more. I really miss those STF days actually :)

The first highlight of the dinner was show by our own "Srikandi Idols". They're all very well known during their time for melting people's hearts with their beautiful voices. Numbers like Jelingan Manja, Seroja, Kamelia and a few others [which i can't recalled oredi :(], together with Lagu Jiwa or whatever the name is [it's that Mawi + M.Nasir's song yang tengah hit tu la..] were sang by different superstars. Upon request from the floor, Tg Zizi and Tg Muna were also so supportive when they also sang a few songs. As some of us know, Tg Muna did cut an album or two like 10 years ago.. so she and her sister are actually well known for their love of singing :) Overall, the Srikandi Idols and the royal sisters put up a wonderful show coz what we heard that nite were only praises and screams from audience for more songs.

Next came the fashion show of STF uniforms and attire from the 50s era to present. Models were the "fresh from the oven" girls who practised so hard to look and walk like professional models that night. Ramai yang tak percaya the models only started practising 2 weeks before the event. Ternganga mulut some men bila tengok models yang cun melecun berjalan turun from stage across the hall :) They modelled the baju kebaya kain kasa from the 60s, band attire, baju kurung hijau [this one was from the 80s sampaikan budak sekolah lain kat JB panggil we all 'katak hijau'], baju kurung oren, chequered pinafores and prefect blazers. Need to mention that some of the models got straight A1s for recent SPM exam. Kudos to Nola, Sheena and team for job well done in modelling those bajus. Photographers were at all corners and ends to capture those fantastic moments :D

Next and main highlight for the evening was show by Anuar Zain, in white tux as handsome giler as ever. Even before he started singing, crowd oredi came forward parading behind the royal table which is near the stage :) Tak putus-putus Srikandis came up to stage one after another to either give him flower or take pictures with him. When a few got to sing phrases with him, Lerq had the best moments of all. Her intention to take picture with Anuar ended up with Anuar holding her hand and asking her to sing along :D Wow, kalau i jadi Lerq, mau tak tidur malam lepas tu.. ahaks.. Kalau dulu masa kat sekolah dapat chance cam gitu, sure "tak larat" punya *LOL*

After people came up to stage to get to him, Anuar joined the crowd, going from table to table. Lagi havoc dewan dibuatnya!! His first stop was at the royal table where he asked Tg Zizi and Tg Muna to sing along. Tg Zizi sang some phrases of Widuri with him beautifully. After that royal table, fans surrounded him, attacking him to get signatures on this and that, while fans at other tables were calling him to come to theirs next. I'm very definite those who managed to take pictures with him are still smiling from ear to ear :) Jangan kata yang muda je minat kat dia.. yang mana dah pangkat makcik-makcik pun minat jugak. Some of them commented that they really wanted to approach Anuar but they just can't get up from their seats coz they're mesmerised by his voice, smile and charm :) Tak pe kak, dapat duduk dalam satu hall ngan Anuar pun jadi la kan, hehehe..

Oh well, we came to the end of the event when Anuar's show ended and Srikandis came up on stage to take group pictures. Yours truly tak ambik gambar tho coz sampai je kat Sunway, battery dah kong when i wanted to snap my first pix :( Thot C checked the battery before i left so was so confident the battery was still working that morning as C took Simba's picture with his teakwando uniform. Memang tak de rezeki nak share gambar with you all la.. Around 12.30, people started leaving the hall after the VVIPs left. Two long lines to the entrance were formed to bid goodbyes to Tg Zizi, her sisters and Dato Hishamuddin with Datin. Semua tak nak miss bersalam ngan Dato Hishamuddin. From the smile on his face, we know that he had a good time throughout the event :) The dinner committee members stayed around to kemas-kemas but i left around 1.30am as C and i volunteered to send the models back. Can't say much except for syukur alhamdulillah for the success of the dinner. Comments i gathered mentioned that this dinner is the BEST so far.. so nak kata senang hati pun tak leh jugak until the post mortem is done. But still i'm really grateful that dinner went smoothly from beginning to the end.. alhamdulillah again and again :D

Note on 5/4:
Oppsss... lupa nak cerita that some of ex-teachers and present teachers also came to the dinner. Some of them came by bus straight from STF that Saturday morning. Love those short moments spent with Puan Roy, Mr Black Rose [read: En Rosley Hitam], En Khalid and Pn Saedah. But so rugi rasa when I only saw from far Pn Chong and Cik Salmah and didn't get to meet Cik Naha :( How i wished the dinner was longer. InsyaAllah i'll try my very best to go to JB this end of June for the GJC main event. Can't make plans yet coz i'm afraid i'll end up disappointed if the plan doesn't materialise, just like what happened during CCD. Just have to keep my fingers crossed for now :)

You can view some pix from this link http://www.stfoga.org.my/ver1.0/khas_sjc.php#MMP