Oh no! Its Monday again!!!

Hmmm, let's see what I have to do later today. Busy betul la duduk kat sini.

Team Building: What a Memory

The Malaysian Business team

It's a given that I don't do outdoor. So it was with much trepidation that I went for the office's team building exercise held in PD a week ago. The last time I was required to attend such an event was like 29 years ago (yes two nine years ago!!!) when I had to represent my school to some GPMS' kursus kepimpinan. I remembered then that my friends and I took a bus to Kuala Kangsar's Clifford school and stayed there for three nights.... only thing that I did not participated in any activities then as I was down with a high fever once I reached the school. So I was bed ridden throughout my stay there... how swell kan?

Anyway, back to the recent team building in PD... I found it fascinating and I actually had loads of fun. Even the outdoor activities were delightfully exciting. Of course, there's the obligatory tug-of-war where my service (apparently I was deemed a cargo ship.. hahah!!) was very much sought after. And to make it more interesting, a company dinner was held as well and I really enjoyed the evening. But the best thing about the whole thing was that it offered me a chance to get to know my work colleagues a little bit more.

It was a blast. Thanks BP!

Its 2011!

Time don't really flies anymore... it zooms past us at lightning speed, yes? And here we are in 2011. And I have decided ... err.... resolved (its a better word, considering) to blog more this year. I intend to preserve many more memories, no matter how small or mundane it may be to others. Because this is where I want to go back to reflect and re-live the joy many years down the road. InsyaAllah.

So what's up this early in 2011?

One thing for sure, the three girls are back to school and the good news is all are in the morning session.... legaaaa! No more braving the evening traffic jams to reach school before darkness....

Anyways, here are the girls just after they reached home on the first day of school in 2011. Hujan lebat woooo... And as they entered the house.. they were greeted by the following sight below..

kunun2 merajuk... kunun2 boringla kot sebab tak da sapa kawan main in the morning. Yeah right!!

My First Book!

Allow me to be self-indulgent with this post. You see, I've always wanted to have my name etched on the cover of a book. I've always wanted to write a book. I remembered telling my aunt Mak Kecik (she's the closest aunt then) when I was in my early teen that I want to become a writer when I grow up. I believed she still remember what I've said all those years ago and she wasn't one bit surprised when I ended up being a reporter about 20 years ago.

But, being a procrastinator tegar that I am, I've never got around to realise my dream of having my name up there along with my favourites JD Salinger (berangan kan?), Jeffrey Archer, Pramoedya Anantoer and more recently Khalid Hosseini, Feisal Tehrani and of course Rick Riordan. Yes, I have dreamed of becoming world famous fiction writer for the longest time. Alas, I keep on dreaming....

Until a couple of months ago when my boss proposed that I took up the "challenge" to take on the project of writing a coffee table book for the Proton Vendors Association (Proton as in the car maker, ya). The association has approached my company Berita Publishing to produce the book for them. Well, not exactly the fiction that I so wanted to write but I figure this was a good opportunity to get the ball rolling. So I agreed. Little did I know that it would be a one hell of a ride as the book this proportion normally would take at least six months to publish. But I did it in two freaking months. Let's not dwell on the details nor should I complain about its quality (of course I would like to have more time to make it more ... err... better).

Suffice to say that for two months, my life revolved around the book and only the book. It was a challenged all right but at one point I wanted to even give up. But the boss Charles Raj and my colleagues spur me on. For that I'm forever thankful. I also have to thank Irwan and Hazel for having to endure my endless rant.

But mostly I have to thank the wife Azian and my three kids Alia, Asma and Arissa for their immense support throughout. They too have had helped along the way and I cannot imagine having to do this book without them. And to Mak too for her doa.

And Alhamdulillah, the book came out a week ago and was launched by the former Prime Minister Tun M at a dinner a few nights ago. Although still having that feeling that more can and should be done, I too was feeling profoundly proud when the book "PVA- The Journey Continues" was revealed that night. And personally I do hope my journey to finally write a fiction will kick off too soon ... very soon. So my journey continues...

Two days of de-stressing myself!!!!

Things have been rather daunting at work this past week and when Saturday rolled by, the car decided that it too needed a visit to the mechanics. Alahai. Yeah, that's life - full of ups and downs.

Not that I'm complaining for life has been good to me and my family. Alhamdulillah. So (I guess it came with age) I decided to de-stress by doing something fun (and stupid la jugak on my part). I challenged the wife to a cook off... a duel I was destined to lose lah. But I was very taken up by that Top Chef show currently on 702. So after parted with a few hundreds of RM at the car workshop, we (the wife and I) rushed through USJ Taipan buying stuff and ingredients for our 'Top Chef' contest. And it's decided that the cook off will be based on bread and mince meat. Ambitious sungguh, babe!

Once home, we went straight to the kitchen to start the competition.. ya bukan main lagi. And we roped in my daughters to act as judges (with my mom making a guest judge appearance hahahaha).

It was real fun as I was totally into the whole reality TV mode and I was running around the kitchen (a first) trying to emulate those contestants in the real Top Chef. Berangan tak sudah lah kaedahnya. And to make it even more seronok I decided to be the bad guy and let me tell you... oh it was such a joy trying to sabotage my competition (you know hide her stuff and all and trash talked my way around trying to rile her up so that she hilang fokus).

But in the end, we ended up with two dishes that's not too bad. Not bad at all!!! Now we present you our creation:

This from the wife... Kacang Phool with French Bread served with onion and green chillies with caramelised tomato salad.

And this from me... my signature (kunun2nya) spicy ginger spaghetti bolognaise served with garlic bread. True winner.. chewah!

And then on Sunday pulak, as I felt I need more de-stress session, the wife and I drove over to the Summit USj which is like 5 minutes away from home to watch Red, starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Karl Urban and the delightful Mary Loiuse Parker.

Its a action comedy flick that we found enduring and funny (although the critics in the US slams the movie - but who cares , man... we were thoroughly entertained.)

The movie is about Willis, Freeman, the deliciously funny Malkovich and Mirren playing ex CIA operatives in RED, which stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous, who have to come out of retirement after leaked government secrets makes them all targets for assassins. Parker plays Willis' love interest.

It was fun good old action comedy movie ( a bit of a road trip movie pun jugak as it took you to several US cities) and is devoid of the usual 3D related technology (now so prevalent in big blockbusters). Great movie for someone who needs a break from pressure cooker life.

Okay, now I'm all ready to go back to work!