Genting Indoor Theme Park, Apr 2011

Dear Diary,

There was another trip up to Genting Kota Keriangan last April. Genting has been one of our favorite family getaways simply because it’s near to Klang Valley, the weather up there is breezily cool (ganti bersalji kat oversea) and has things for the kids and us adults as well. Furthermore, my sister works at one of the establishment there. “Boleh jumpa Mak Lang” as ideally put by Imran.

On our trip in April we spent the night. So, the kids were overjoyed trying out rides and games. The original plan was to try the outdoor theme park but luck was not on our side as it rained most of the time we were there.

This time we tried reflexology at Healing Touch. The massage was good but some of the worker’s attitude or PR can be improved. It felt heavenly soothing having people massaging your feet after hours of walking and carrying an 8kg baby.

In Genting whenever meal times arrive, most of the times we would frequent its food court, The Kopitiam Food Hall, for its variety of choices. Some of the options there that we tried were captured in this picture.

A Week After Being Maidless

Dear Diary,

I missssss blogging & blogwalking so baaaad!!!!!

A week after being maidless, we're doing just fine. A routine is coming in order. There are a few hiccups here and there but we're going through this phase as calmly as we could. In fact, sometimes things are better than I expected.

My kids are behaving good with the oldest two becoming more responsible and lending me helping little hands. I pity Irfan the most, he's the slowest in getting used to the transition and is the most affected. Hang in there baby....you'll be better in no time, Insya Allah.

As for myself, I feel like 24 hours in a day is not enough huhu. With the never ending house chores, I use whatever spare time to settle what's need to be done. Whatever precious minutes left, I catch up on my sleep thus explaining my absence in the blogging world.

Ps: Praying hard for more spare time so I can blog more regularly....so many things to share, stories to tell...

A Saying To Ponder Upon

Dear Diary,

A junior from my secondary school, who is now an English teacher and a radio deejay for LangkawiFM, posted a saying on her Facebook status. It catches my attention and I seek her permission to share it here. She wrote:

Every person who comes into your life teaches you a lesson. Good or bad, you still learn something from everyone you know.

Don’t you think it’s true? Learning is a continuous process until our last breath. Take and keep the good ones. Leave the bad ones but learn from them as not to repeat them.

Imran's First Term Results

Dear Diary,

Last Wednesday Hubby and I went to Imran’s school to get his Laporan Adab Pelajar or progress report. Overall, he’s doing fine. He got As and Bs for his subjects and one D for his Bahasa Arab. Not bad for a Standard 1 pupil. As for Bahasa Arab, what can I say I myself also have trouble in learning it (from his text book). Out of 32 pupils in his class, he’s at number 13.

What does his teacher say about him? He’s playful, can’t stay focus for a long time, loves English, struggles with Jawi alphabet in the beginning of the school term but is getting better now. Moreover, he also is not afraid of his class teacher, Cikgu Nazariyah who is a soft spoken and kind teacher.

“Imran oh Imran dear! Better brush up on your Jawi and Arabic. Mama knows you can do better because you’re smart. I still love you no matter what.”

Transformers: Dark of The Moon

Dear Diary,

Anybody who watches Transformers movies is well aware that it’s fiction. Even so, their advanced technology never fails to capture my attention and win my admiration. Whenever they go, “Autobot transforms!”, all these ordinary vehicles cum robots seem alive with feelings like humans – sad, happy, angry, cheeky, etc. So damn believable!

With high hopes, we went to catch the latest Transformers sequel. It’s very frustrating when it doesn’t live up to our expectations. It doesn’t even fill the shoes of its two predecessors. My head kept thinking when this movie is going to be over. The third franchise is very dragging albeit full of stunts and actions.

Transformers: Dark of The Moon, directed by Michael Bay, still retains Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky) as its leading male actor. In the casts assemble accompanying Shia are Josh Duhamel (Lt. Colonel William Lennox), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Carly Miller) and Patrick Dempsey (Dylan Gould).

Still, there are scenes that I like, three scenes actually. The first scene is when they depict Chicago, the windy city, as war zone city (kawasan darurat). Swarmed with wreckage, damages and dead bodies everywhere, the catastrophic tragedy looks very real. Second is the life threatening scene involving Bumblebee. Last is the tumbling building with Sam, Carly and a handful of soldiers in it and the sequence of how they cheat death.

Zarra's First Cinema Experience

Dear Diary,

A few weeks back, I bought vouchers for 45% off for 1 pair of TGV movie tickets through MyDeal.com.my. Imran has been pestering us to go for a movie ever since he saw Transformers ads on television. As we’re huge fans of the previous Transformers films, we went to TGV Aeon Bukit Tinggi last week bringing Zarra along.

That was Zarra’s first cinema experience. On the way to the cinema, I repeatedly explained to her what watching a movie in a cinema is all about. She’s all psyched up and excited. Upon entering the theater, she soaked in the atmosphere and began asking all sorts of question. The question & answer session continued even after the lights went off and only ended when the huge screen started showing movie trailers.

When the movie started, Zarra could still contain her excitement and focus on the screen. Sadly to say, this perfect scenario only lasted for about an hour. Then she started to feel bored and the real drama began. Her eyes wandered to the audiences and her mouth started to work. Next, she wanted to go to the toilet, not once but twice. Next, she asked for her milk and successfully finished up two bottles at one go. Next, she felt sleepy

The final straw was she wanted to go home. From then on, there was no turning back for her. Every few minutes she requested to go home and kept asking when the movie’s going to end. We persuaded, cajoled even threatened her to be patient but it was all in vain. Never had I felt so relieve for a movie to come to an end.

That was how Zarra’s first experience at the cinema went about with her herself being full of drama. She’s definitely not ready for another cinema visit yet. Maybe in a couple of year’s time we’d give her another shot to watch a movie.

It's My Day

Dear Diary,

Oh dear! Am I really 36? Wait a sec, is it 36 or 26? Hahahaha, denial mode yeah!

It doesn’t matter 16, 26 or 36, age is just a number to me. If you’re 16 but act like 26, you’d be older than your real age. If you’re 36 but act like 16, then you’d be childish. Age is always going to increase each year but how you act show the inner you. Just be true to yourself and you’d be wiser. There’s nothing wrong in being young at heart but at the same time grow old gracefully.

“Ya Allah, kupanjatkan kesyukuran kerana memberi ku peluang untuk terus bernafas di bumi Mu ini. Kurniakanlah kebahagiaan dunia & akhirat kepada ku. Teguhkanlah akidahku & berkatilah hidupku. Jadikan diriku manusia yang sentiasa mensyukuri nikmatMu. Permudahkanlah segala urusanku & ampunkan dosa-dosaku yang tak terhitung banyaknya. Amin”