One hot Saturday... ada tetamu and ada orang kahwin

It was really hot and humid yesterday. And by 5 pm I was already floored... exhausted giler. I still can't think clearly and decided to go Yanged (Kakak, see you are a noun!!!) with this entry. So here goes a rather detailed happenings for the day...

6.45am: Wife woke me up ... in time for Subuh prayer.

7.03am: Refrigerator visit.. minum ayor sejuk. And then say hi to Yan's cousin Kak Encik and her husband Abang Din in the living room. They were watching TV. They came on Thursday nite and it was fun having them over, as usual.

7.05am: Decided not to watch the TV3 Motivasi Pagi with them, went back to my bedroom and switched on the Internet. Blog hopping! And of course, Facebooking!!!

7.16am: Yan came in and asked me to google pancake recipe. Okay, our breakfast would be pancake, obviously.

7.33am: Breakfast. Ooh got nasi goreng too. Yipee!!!

7.33am - 8.20am: Eating and chit chatting away with my tetamu. Can't recalled what we were talking about though. Hmm, getting old.

8.21am: Asked Hadim (Kak Encik's youngest son) to join me watching Diversity on youtube. I should be getting money for promoting Diversity, no? Then his brother Afiq also joined us. Last-last semua dah ada depan PC.

9.15am: Kak Encik's family left for Bangi to visit her second son Wan. (Hmm I don't even know his full name. Note: must ask Yan later).

9.30am: Back in front of a PC. Yan was dozing off in front of a TV. The kids were having breakfast.

10.a00am - 10.30am: All were getting ready to go to Kuala Pilah for Yone and Azri's wedding reception.

10.33am: Left home. Figured will be in time to join the rest in Kuala Pilah by 12 something. Took the KLIA highway (or is it the PLUS highway?)

1040am: The drive was smooth. Should be on time....

11.07am: Approaching the Nilai exit at the KL-Seremban highway and oooo oooo traffic jam. Damn!

11.40am: Traffic was RIDICULOUS. We were inching away. Just passed the Nilai exit.

12.38 noon: Reached Seremban. God. More than an hour from Nilai to Seremban.

12.50 noon: Exited via Senawang. Oh no.... so many traffic lights.

12.53 noon: Swung into Petronas Mesra. Beli roti... sudah lapor.

1.07 pm: Reached Bukit Putus. (for the record: this is our first time to Kuala Pilah) and it felt like we were going to Cameron Highlands instead.

1.18pm: Thank God, that stretch didn't drag on. Before long, after Ulu Bendul, it was ... urm .. normal route again.

1.30 pm: Noticed there're stalls selling daging salai, ayam salai among others along the way. Interesting. Made mental note to buy those on our way back nanti.

1.45pm: Reached outskirt of Kuala Pilah town. Received call from Anom enquiring where we were. They were eating already.

1.46pm: Asked Yan to read the map on the invitation card. She asked Asma instead sebab takut bagi salah direction and thus incurring the wrath of the driver..

1.50pm: Got confused after the junction.

1.52pm: Stopped at one kampung house. Asked for direction.

1.53pm: Got direction.. drove off and alhamdulillah found the rumah kenduri.

2.04pm: The rombongan were almost done with the makan-makan... so we took our turn. Lapar. And the food was heavenly... bayangkan daging masak lomak, among others.

2.10pm: As I was eating away happily, suddenly my aunt Achik promised that she'll give a baju batik (size S lagik) if I'm successful with my Biggest Loser effort. I just blinked and said to myself, "What Biggest Loser? I'm eating now!!!!"

2.30pm: Then took photos here and there. But it was hot.. really really hot. Imagine the pengantin in their songket berlapis bagai.

3.05pm: Left Azri's home.

3.18pm: Reached Kuala Pilah town. Yan snapped some photos for the benefit of her niece .. Nurul... who would soon become a full-fledged Kuala Pilah resident.

3.35pm: Stopped to buy the daging salai... also some dodol.

4.15pm: Reached the PKLUS highway via Senawang. Traffic was not as bad as in the morning. But it was still hot... no its hotter... even with air-cond in full blast.

5.03pm: Reached home. Exhausted. The heat was rather unbearable. Mandi, solat and then zzzzzzzzzzz........

9pm: Alia and Asma woke me up... they were hungry, apparently.

9.20pm: Left home with family in search of food.

10.35pm: Back home. Switched on Internet. And air cond!!!! aaaah lega!!!

All in all, the day went rather well. It was great having Kak Encik and family as usual. It was good to be able to join the rest in Kuala Pilah, despite the heat and the horrendous traffic. Here are some photos from Kuala Pilah:

Kak and abang ipar pengantin... Anom and Nasir. Kat Penang hari tu lupa nak amik gambarq.

Arissa, Asma, Yone and Alia

The anak-anak gadis and seorang teruna with the pengantin

The bride's family

Hari ni lupa nak amik gambar dua orang... so tuan-puan will have to make do with this one... hehehe

Lunch in Penang

While in Penang, we also took the liberty to meet up with a very good friend of mine (from our era bersuka ria in NST dahlu kala) - Azwan. She's now ... urm... I presumed a very garang lecturer in USM. (disclaimer: I  might be wrong, though)

It was indeed an entertaining lunch do at E-Gate that Sunday afternoon. I guess it was also a rather astonishing experience for my daughters having met up a very da hip hop pompuan hingaq for the first time. Heh! (the last time Azwan came over to my place was like when Alia was still a baby).

But still, thank you very very much for the lunch yang amat sedap di sebuah tempat yang amat vogue itu. But more importantly, it was good to finally berbual bicara secara live... instead of texting thru phone and FB.

So Azwan, bila nak datang membuat lawatan balas????? Jemput... jemput

Again from all the kanak-kanak, Yan and I: a big thank you!!!!!

Eh... ada jugak depa ni!!!!

Yone is a married woman!

We were in Penang over the weekend primarily to attend Yone's wedding. It was really delightful to be able to meet up with oh so many relatives. And Yone the pengantin is exquisitely beautiful. It was good to finally meet Azri, the groom.
Anyway, as I'm in no mood to tulis panjang2, here are some of the memories of last Saturday:

Yone and Azri - Selamat Pengantin Baru

Ayah Anjang's family at the reception (minus Adi yang pergi berjalan-jalan rupanya)

Yah of DramaMama was in charge of the flower girls. Here's Pipa and Ana.

The Pengantin berarak masuk

My second uncle Ayah Chik and Achik

The bride's brother Meor, wife Rina and my Arissa

My youngest auntie, Chu and Pak Su

My youngest uncle Ayah Chu and Mak Su

Haaa yang ni Mak Kecik and Pak Kecik. She's my auntie too plus partner in rime masa kecik-kecik dulu....

My brother and sister in law

My favourite auntie Wan Cik and Moi

Wan Cik and my daughters

My niece Safia

My pretty sweet young cousins - Fatin and Mai

My pretty sweet young nieces and daughter - Sabrina, Alia and Soraya

The ladies di Red Carpet... heh

and of course one Pengantin Lama....

And I am watching this....

1. Confession time: I have an appalling fixation on reality shows. There I said it. I don't know why but somehow I find these shows are very compelling... enough for me to keep on watching or at least following it rather religiously online.

2. Take the recently concluded American Idol for instance. I don' t really get to watch it every week and even if I did, I somehow would miss one or two performances (incidentally I missed quite a few of Adam Lambert's showy performances). But I make sure I follow all the gory details in the countless websites and blogs. In fact, I'll be on standby on Thursday mornings awaiting the elimination results on www.realitynewsonline.com as Astro would only screened the results show later that day. Does that make me an addict? Or simply a weirdo?

3. Speaking of American Idol, I'm sure all are aware that Kris Allen was voted as the latest idol, much to the chagrin of my wife and daughters. But not me. I'm a Kris supporter. Naturally, I gloat... big time. Which of course, further annoyed the wife. And I gloat some more. What fun!!!!

4. But now Britain's Got Talent is all the rage at home. (Yeah, I know its rather unpatriotic but really we can't stomach Akademi Fantasia anymore, sorry). And no, it has nothing to do with Susan Boyle. Sure, she can sing. True, her story is .. urm.. grippingly interesting. But there are other better talents. Like Diversity... a dance act group who wowed audiences with their out of this world choreography. We were simply blown away...

5.  Of course, the girls are rooting for Shaun Smith. And the wife is all for Shaheen Jafargholi. But collectively, we are all for Diversity.

6. Coming back to the other reality shows, admittedly, there are many lousy and rather stupid shows like Wife Swaps, Paris Hilton's My New BFF,, The Bachelors, America's Next Top Model, and Extreme Makeover, among others. But still, sometimes I find myself watching them anyway. ("Gawd! I can't believe I am confessing to watching these ridiculous shows.")

7. But we do get inspired from some of these shows. We find recipes (Top Chef), go to countries we only dream about (The Amazing Race), get pointers on how to deal with devilish bosses (Hell's Kitchen and The Apprentice) and watch designers create outfits (Project Runway).

8. And then there's The Biggest Losers. This one gives me HOPE!!!!

Peringatan Hari Jumaat

Ini ada satu joke lama... but I still find it funny. Dan sempena hari Jumaat yang mulia ini... marilah kita sama-sama hayati...

Kisahnya macam ni,

Ada lah sorang lelaki Islam ponteng sembahyang Jumaat. Sebaliknya dia masuk hutan untuk memburu ayam hutan. Sedang dia terhendap2 di dalam semak, tiba2 dia berlanggar dengan seekor HARIMAU yang sedang lena tidur.Dia begitu terkejut sehingga senapangnya tercampak lalu tergelungsur kedalam jurang. Dia pula tergolek ke arah lain, jatuh ke atas batu dan...


KRAKKKK!


Kedua2 kakinya patah.


HARIMAU tadi terus menghambatnya, sedangkan dia dah tak boleh bergerak lagi.


"Ya Allah," doa lelaki tersebut,


"Ampunilah dosaku kerana ponteng sembahyang jumaat pada hari Jumaat yang mulia ini...Ampunilah aku ya Allah... makbulkan hajat ku ini... jadikanlah HARIMAU yang memburuku HARIMAU yang beriman...tolong la ya Allah! Aminnn.."


Tiba2 guruh berdentum!


HARIMAU tadi tiba2 terhenti betul2 di hadapan lelaki tadi. Tiba-tiba....Sambil menadah kedua2 kaki depannya ke langit .. HARIMAU tersebut pun berdoa,



"Allahumma barik lana, fima razaktana, wa qina azzabbannar. Amin"