Cheers to Kuala Lumpur

I'm back in KL and all is the same to me.

Despite people's critic/complement of me being too thin (a.k.a tak makan ke dekat Vietnam?), I'm determined to start on rigorous heart pumping activities after this. Why? Cause 2 months of eating out made me sick and I felt I had consumed a lot of junk stuff. I need to shed some kg(s). It all starts tomorrow (in a finger-crossed tone of voice). La la laaa...

p/s: what I eat and what I buy? They all matters!

Messy Love

I've always thought having someone dear to you makes your life wonderful because you are always happy. Little that I know, it's a bumpy ride. As I'm answering "yes" or giggled to all people's Qs on my certain someone, I still have my head throbbing from the bumpy ride. Maybe I can blame my life-long commitment to single life that I'm not so BF-ready for a second person in life. Nevertheless, I always go back to "You & Me" by Dave Matthews Band cause like I always tell him,

"You and I, we're not tied to the ground

Not falling, but rising like rolling around..."

It's perfect. And I sure know we're perfect.

Love you, beau.

Always will & always have.

p/s: m digging on our differences

The-like*love-effect

I always felt I haven't really found myself yet in HCMC until a couple of weeks ago. Other than shopping and work, I hardly do anything else! I ate at the same places for the most part (due to Halal issues & I can't read the names of the dishes!) and since the past 1 month was Ramadhan I wasn't that much of an "explorer".

This year's Ramadhan felt more blessed somehow; the kind you felt after you've done something extremely virtuous. I tried to "khatam the Quran" but I was not successful (sigh) and I only got to juzuk 16 :( Since I spent my Raya offshore, I got back onshore with a vengeance of some sort. That's when I feel I found myself. I'm not in any ways trying to portray a certain lifestyle, but I just want to share some of the things I love, like JAZZ!

They played great music. We wanted to request Sade's "Smooth Operator" but we were 10 mins too late. They were already playing their last song which was James Brown's "I Feel Good" (cliche dohh!)

(at Sax 'N' Art, HCMC)

The fruit punch was awesome! It was a bit pricey, but nevermind I just got back on land!

...And CAFES!

Back to going around trying out different places but for I always left my camera out most of the time. Sigh.

I like cafes and I guess you probably know/realize that already. I passed by this cafe everyday to work and the only question I had was when oh when! So, I had lunch at Rita Cafe, Nguyen Van Cu. I had Hot & Sour Seafood Noodle and can I say it was freaking good! Anyways, I somehow think the shops in Vietnam are always very well decorated!

I'm loving the paper umbrella decor on the ceiling :)

...And MANI/PEDI!

And it comes down to feeling all good bout your body. I'd go to mani/pedi all the time here and I think I'm getting very comfortable with people doing my nails for me. Now the thoughts of buffing my own nails spelled M.a>laS! Manicure or pedicure is about $3-$5 here so why bother doing your own, right? The thing is, I never went to nail place in Malaysia haha! I have no idea why, but this kind of lifestyle has got to stop cause doing your nails at the nail parlour is expensive in Malaysia tee hee! My favourite here is Armani Spa at Dong Du St, but when I went there last Thursday...the made my my lateral nail fold bleed :(

...And ORGANIC THINGS!

Since I always berangan to go all-*cough-cough*-organic*, I sort of took the first step: I bought Yves Rocher "Organic Vanilla" shower gel. I know, you would say OMG perlu ker? but it's good to use organic-based product! I thought the L'occitane lip balm I bought was organic-based, but it wasn't. Sigh. I can't read both French & Vietnamese! BTW, I hate the lip balm. Chapstick $1.69 Strawberry flavoured is even better than this!

Love the vanilla smell and I like how the bathroom smells of vanilla afterwards :)

The smell is quite long-lasting.

...and the SEMANGATNESS of things!

The last time I went for a formal dinner event was five years ago. Now I'm in Vietnam, the company celebrated it's 20th year in Vietnam with a dinner for all the staff at one of the hotels here. I'm like, what do I wear? As if there's a lot of options as to what I can wear and where to get them! I don't have something to wear, handbag (I only brought my Lesportsac sling bag to HCMC! Imagine how colourful that is!), no high heels (pakai flats murah yang boleh buang je pasni) and no tudung! I somehow got excited about this dinner and bought almost all the things I don't have. This is me talking about how much I like to waste money in this sense just to look the part.

Anyways, it was a great dinner mainly cause I get to watch traditional Vietnames dance & songs (I didn't get to watch it at any other place). On the more lucky note, I get to mingle around with all the Mr-big-shots. It was nice to listen to their stories, work & off-work related. It makes you feel it is not impossible to be like them one day cause they started pretty much like where I am right now.

Terpaksa beli baju kurung, selendang licin (OMG!) and kasut...

I never tried wearing tudung like this and I only wore it this way for the dinner cause the scarf I bought was too "silky" and it was impossible to wear it!

(satu gamba dinner je lah)

BTW, you bet I have more than just the ones I shared here

I'm going back to Malaysia soon. Now I felt everything came sooner than I anticipated

p/s: has a love*like effect for someone tee hee

30 Aug 2011

My Hari Raya, as powered by coffee.

RAYA EVE: Mad at the telephone and internet at 0200 hrs cause it was down and caused lots of communication problems to me. End up sleeping at 0400 hrs. I was able to stay up that late due to coffee.

RAYA MORNING at 0800 hrs: Woke up at 0615 hrs to do report. Internet and phone line were occasionally down. I was still upset about it, but I had my first cup of coffee in the morning in 1 month. I'm all good to go until now at 1645 hrs; although, I was predictably hyper around 1100 hrs. Now, I've mellowed down and sleeping looks pretty good from here... *yawnnn*

On that note fellas,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

&

MAAF ZAHIR BATIN

(fire crackerrrss!! weee! weee!)

Cheers,

Me,

all the way from offshore Vietnam.

30 days and counting

A month into living abroad feels like I've never done this before. If I'm allowed to make one comment bout it, I'd say I've grown to know me. As in, I never know what I really want, until I got here.

and, cheers to that *raise glass!*

p/s: Dreaming of an imagination.

Dari dalam hati

Secara zahirnya, lelaki memang saya kira lebih kuat. Kuat fizikalnya kerana itu satu ketentuan. Namun, tidaklah harus kita lupakan yang seseorang itu perlu juga kuat di dalam hatinya. Saya kira, perempuan telah dilahirkan untuk mempunyai kekuatan tertentu dan fokusnya adalah dalam pada hatinya. Saya sebagai perempuan bukanlah mahu membela nasib kaum sendiri, tetapi umum dapat melihat sendiri ketabahan seseorang wanita itu. Kita tidak merungut, apatah lagi menhina diri sendiri apabila ditimpa musibah. Kita bangkit untuk mencari jalan keluar tanpa menunggu bulan jatuh ke riba. Ini lebih benar jika seseorang wanita itu adalah seorang ibu. Tidak salah kalau saya membuat kesimpulan bahawa ibu-ibu dapat berdiri gah dengan kekuatan sendiri kerana mereka tahu kekuatan mereka adalah nadi kepada keluarga. Mereka tahu ada sesuatu yang berharga yang harus dijaga dan dipupuk. Inilah yang dikatakan naluri wanita bergelar seorang ibu. Saya bukan seorang ibu, tetapi sudah pastinya saya dapat kebenaran ini pada mama saya. Saya rasa mama saya sudah melalui pelbagai suka duka dalam kehidupan ini. Walaupun dia senyap dan tidak meluahkan apa yang dirasakan, tetapi saya dapat agak apa yang sedang bermain di fikirannya. Jauh di sudut hatinya, saya pasti dia cuba untuk menjadi tabah untuk kami. Tidak perlulah saya mencungkil satu persatu, tetapi cukuplah untuk kalian tahu dia gembira dengan apa yang dia kecapi dan saya sangatlah bertuah mempunyai dia sebagai mama saya. Saya berharap saya dapat membuat dia gembira selalu. Sayaaanng mama saya!

Mama dan saya. Amirul & Hakim sekali lah!

Tapi itu hanya sedikit.

Tidak kira dimana saya pergi untuk menimba pengalaman, saya akan melihat perkara yang sama. Kaum hawa membanting kudrat mereka untuk mencari rezeki dan saya tahu mereka melakukannya untuk mencari sesuap nasi. Kerana jika suami mereka sudah berharta, masakan mereka perlu membanting tulang? Inilah yang saya kagum. Sudah pasti segala penat lelah mereka berbaloi apabila melihat anak-anak mereka gembira. Tapi saya merasakan tatkala mereka membela orang lain, nasib sendiri tidak terbela. Walaupun acapkali kita katakan inilah "naluri seorang ibu", tetapi sampai bilakah mereka perlu sebegini? Saya cuma berharap anak-anak mereka dapat menghargai pengorbanan ibu mereka dengan sebaiknya. Saya masih kagum.

Mendayung sampan untuk mencari rezeki

Jangan lupa wanita lah secara lazimnya yang dapat buat kerja-kerja sebegini teliti dan halus

(seorang wanita sedang membuat kulit popiah dengan tekunnya)

Oleh itu, kesimpulan saya mudah. Mungkin lelaki yang dapat mempamerkan kekuatan zahir mereka, tetapi kekuatan dalaman adalah sama penting. Lihatlah ibu kamu dan pastinya kamu akan bersetuju.

P/S: Tidak bermaksud untuk membuat karangan ala-ala Tingkatan 5. Hanya ingin memperlihatkan apa yang mungkin kita sudah terlupa.

Hooked

A year ago, I wrote "something obvious should be very subtle".

And a year later, I still believe so.

And in 3 months, I still want to believe so.

Because I know, it is there.

"Something obvious should be very subtle"

There is no point for one to prove something that is obvious. As long as one knows it is there, then it is there. But one seeks for an attention; a chance to be seen because that desperate attempt is all to vie for a pointless point. The deeper this goes, the more important it sounds to thee, but fret not 'cause thy silent aplomb is admirable. It counts to be subtle in your actions. It matters to keep your emotions in line. The bottom line is proving an obvious point is silly and self-belief is the key. What matters is you know it is there.

p/s: I had coffee everyday for bukak puasa. Hihi

Wow, duit!

LOL. RM6 sedia diberikan to kanak-kanak riang :)

Story telling

If I write a story, will you read it out loud.

Will you be the narrator to my story?

It is about five little birds trying to make a decision to fly away. Three in complete agreement, but two decided to stay. Why stay when there is nothing here? they asked. There is a dream out there waiting for us to land on. An opportunity to grow bigger and stronger, they continued to say.

The two replied, Here is good 'cause this is where we call home. Not there or there. You can always land on some opportunities elsewhere and settle down in a nice house you think is good. But deep down you know, a house is never a home.

p/s: hati kecil terasa pabila hati besar terdetik.

And it gets going

Today is day 1 of Ramadhan. SELAMAT BERPUASA TO ALL.

My heart wept too, today.

Maybe cause Ramadhan to me is different this year. I just tell myself that loneliness is just a feeling that I need to push aside, but being here alone means a whole lot more. Since today was rough anyways, I took the liberty to seek some comfort. And what I found was a conversation I had with a certain someone back in November 2010. My eyes got teary cause it was beautiful. I can feel my heart skipped a beat.

Yes, beautiful.

And you're beautiful, no matter who you are reading this.

p/s: "kalau hati ada sayang..."

and they kept lingering in my head. yes, i have my answer.