It lies not in our hands to love or hate,
For the will in us is overruled by fate.
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:: NISAH HAJI HARON ::
A wife A mother of 3
A lawyer A writer A book seller
A person who speaks her mind
LOCATION :
Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
WHERE HAVE YOU SEEN ME?
Probably in court, or
while browsing the books I sell,
Or if you were/are Form 4 student in 2000 - now, perhaps you may come across a short story called "Annyss Sophilea, well... I wrote that story back in 1993.
colour: blue Scent : the rain, fresh cut grass, lavender flowers : Jasmine, Orchid, Kesidang Computer games : RPG - Age of Empires, Warcraft, etc. Sports : Badminton Outings : Jalan-jalan sekitar kawasan perumahan bersama keluarga TV : The Apprentice, F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Discovery Channel, Discovery Travel & Living Film : Lord of the Rings 1 - 3, Starwars (1-2,4-6), Notting Hill Actors : Pierce Brosnan, Drew Barrymore, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Jalaluddin Hassan, Elly Suriati Music: The Corrs, muzik sentimental dan instumental Magazines: Reader's Digest, Dewan Sastera Books/authors : LOTR (Tolkien), Belgariad/Mallorean etc (David Eddings), Saga Artakusiad (Ahmad Patria Abdullah), Hizairi Othman, SM Zakir, Othman Puteh, Jurai Palma (Siti Zainon Ismail) Ways of killing time : Writing, reading, watching film, spend quality time with family
I was in Johor Bahru since Monday for an occasion. Due to some reasons, I had no choice but to drive home alone at 4.30am from JB itself. My tank was 1/2 filled. And on I drove, leaving JB feeling secure than I would refill my petrol somewhere along the highway. After 45 mins, my tank was already less than 1/4 and yet there were no sign of any petrol station. I passed by quite a number of rest areas but no petrol station.
Worry started to decend. But, I said to myself that probably there will be one at the next stop. After all, the next stop should be Simpang Renggam.
But when I reached Simpang Renggan Rest Area, I was wrong again. My heart dropped. The needle was almost touching the letter E! The next rest area would be Machap and I have no idea whether that one too didn't come with a Petrol Station. I thought to myself, "That's it. If Machap doesn't have a pit stop. I'll be dead! There's no way my Kancil is going to make it to Yong Peng."
I drove on. Then came Machap. I was keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank God! I have never been so relieved in live and all of a sudden I fell in love with that Petronas, for obvious reason.
Still, I couldn't believe that from JB, the next petrol station is about an hour's away. What if my tank was only 1/4. How would I know that I wouldn't make it to the nearest petrol station? When I told my friends, some even advised me to exit the highway and fill up somewhere and then re-enter the highway.
Yeah, right. How was I to know that I would make it to the next station?
I have half the mind to sue PLUS for this gross negligence! What if my car was stranded and I was robbed, or something worse than that happened to me. The authorities should have put up a signage stating that the next petrol station is about ... kilometers away. Or the last petrol station at JB should use this as an advertising strategy. Just put up a sign board something to this effect : "NEXT PETROL STATION - 70KM". Any idiot would now what to do.
This is the second time for me. I experience this before when I was driving to Tg Piai, Pontian. There was no petrol station even from Pekan Nanas (which is about 20 KM from Kukup-Tg Piai). All petrol stations are on right side of the road. To do that I have to make a right turn, but it is quite difficult because there are dividers in the middle. So, I thought that Kukup should have a petrol station because after all it is next town.
Again I was wrong. When I reached Kukup Golf Resort (my destination for the occasion), I asked the organiser. He said that I should have filled up my tank back at Pekan Nanas. Ya Allah, how was I to know that. Like it or not, I drove with my Kancil with the needle nearly pointing the letter E and off to Pekan Nanas. I refilled and feeling relief.
I guess I am quite a risk taker. It is quite an adventure for me. But something ought to be done about this. Don't you think?
My ever faithfull Motorola T190 has completed its service today. Actually, I have been meaning to replace it since the battery often gave me problem. I liked the phone since it was cute, simple and it was also a gift from a wonderful friend. But I guess, its time has come. The phone has served me well.
I went shopping for a new phone today. I don't quite fancy phones with unnecessary features. For me, a phone should be a phone. If I want a camera, I would buy a camera instead of a phone. So, after much window shopping at first, I settled for an LG. I like the size - not too small, with colour display, and most importantly the phone would also serve as my pocket watch. It has been quite some time since I last use a proper watch. I notice that not wearing any bangles, a watch or even a ring helps improve the speed of my typing.
I am happy with the phone. But there is only one problem though, I couldn't find the plastic cover. Hmm... I wonder why I often buy a phone that doesn't come with its plastic cover. The same happened to my Motorola.
My first phone was Philips, followed by Siemen, Kyocera and Motorola. This is my fifth. Despite the brand, my favourite is Kyocera. It was very light, silver housing and soft keypad. Also, I like it because it was tall and slim.
Finally, I managed to get my kids to stop wearing diapers. Well, at least two of them - the first two. *Phew* They are quite a late bloomers in that sense. I have been trying to convince Along that she is capable of going to the loo herself. Alas, she didn't believe in herself, yet.
Of course, accidents happened - here and there. But eventually, she learnt.
She wants so much to become a princess. Oh, she loves to dress prettily. She would do practically anything in the name of beauty. So, I told her that one thing, to be a princess, you must be toilet-trained. No princess that I know of wears any form of diapers. That made her stopped and pondered.
All the while, she has been the laughing stock of the family. Especially, when all of us went 'balik kampung' at my husband's hometown. All the relatives would ask her the same question. "You are still on diaper???"
The big joke was that, she conversed in an almost perfect English. And yet, she doesn't know how to tell the adults when she wanted to do her business.
Well, part of the blame goes to me, actually. As parent, I let her do things her way. She can be quite dominant if she wants to. Even though she may be five, with the size of an eight-year-old, her face doesn't show the same maturity. I believe that she will change when the time comes. And finally, she did it.
It is easy for parents when the kids are using diapers. Despite the fact that diapers can burn a hole into our pocket, we have to admit that, when they are on diaper, you only have to check on them twice a day. No constant running to the toilet or checking on them every half an hour.
I also know that once I managed to train her, the rest of her sisters will follow suit. Ehem... I was right again! Today, Angah refused to wear her diaper and claimed that she is not a baby anymore.
When they stop wearing diaper, that means frequent running to the toilet. "Mama/Papa, the water is coming!" they would yell. As a obliged parents, we ran together with them. That is so much better than hearing anyone of them say, "I'm wet!"
My kids are probably being exposed with too much television. They picked up a lot of things from there. Perhaps, that's the effect of not spending adequate time with them @ parents are too busy to play with them. But on the defensive mode, I would say that we do spend quality time with them. The fact that both of us are working from home doesn't mean that we have spend most of our time with our kids. Somebody has to bring the food on the table
Sending them to watch TV is probably the best way to stop them from annoying us further with their frequent unreasonable request of getting drinks from the fridge, sitting on our lap or other things that would stop us from finishing our daily task. Well, you can say that we are not much of a good set of parents. But then again, one can't really get everthing.
One thing that I pride in them is their ability to converse quite well in English (as per my previous entry). Channel 60 to 63 are strictly for them when we are so occupied with our work.
One day, in our bedroom, Along (the eldest, of course) went and sit on the chair and began : "Once a upon a time a long, long time ago, there was a dragon and a monster. Then came Mom dan Dan to the rescue. The end." Then she left the chair.
Following Along's lead, Angah took her place and repeated almost the same : "Wans pon time, long long go, a monster and a dragon, mom and day. Yeah. The End." Then she too left the chair.
Immediately, Adik (the little one) took the chair and began her version of the tale : "Wanspon time, long go, monster dragon. The End."
What can I say? Children do love stories. Being a writer myself, I'm quite ashamed that I didn't much time reading stories to them. well, I did buy them a lot of books. But reading to them or telling them a story is a different thing all together. It made you feel much closer to them.
Of course, Along often insists that I tell her a bedtime story. Either due to being sleepy or just pure lazy, I simply tell her : "Once upon a time," they believe that every story must begin with that phrase, "There was a little girl called Maisara. And she is very, very sleepy and she decided to close her eyes and sleep. The End."
And she got pretty excited that I actually told her a story (with her name in it). Kids can be quite easy to impress.
I must brush up more on my story-telling skill. They are going to need me to do that or soon enough they will grow up and decided that they can read their own story and won't be needing my to tell them anymore... *sigh*
It has been a long while since I last updated this blog. I have been busy. Maintaining 2 blogs at the same time can be a very daunting task indeed!
As most of you have known, I am now a law student - again. I'm doing my Masters programme in Law. Being a student again, and at the same time tutoring for Family Law keep me busy these days. Apart from that, I still continue my writing. How could I ever abandon my writing, since I love writing so much.
Only now, I have to be wiser in time management. Extra work and extra task means less rest and less sleep, too. :(
Well, as the saying goes, working women really has to give up something!
Conducting tutorials with the 2nd year student was fun, even though it can be quite tiring, especially on Mondays. But then, I learn a lot from them too. For me, learning is always a two-way process. Never a dull moment with them.
Sometimes, when we are busier, we manage our time better. I believe that.
I was a debater once. Well, many times, actually. I first started debating when I was in Form Four. That was an inter-school debate. Being first timers, we lost to another school which I couldn't quite recall the name of it.
In school, once you are in something, you will be in it forever and ever. It would be just being dipped ankle deep. You'll be drowned with competitions that could kill you. Of course, coming from a religious school, being an English Debater was something quite exceptional. But then again, no one else would want to be a school debater in the first place. In the end, I got stuck with it.
However, I was beginning to enjoy this oratorical business. There I was, standing in front of an audience, saying things that I want them to hear, for that 7 or 10 minutes. For that amount of time, people would have no choice but to listen to what I have to say.
At first, I was to talking to the wall behind my audience, then the floor, sometimes the ceiling fan and not forgetting the lights too. But as practice makes perfect, I began to develop eye-contact with the audience, demanding their absolute attention to me - moi, the person who is talking in front of them.
From then on, I was in front of the class quite often.
I have always wanted to become an English teacher. But somehow, that didn't work out. I took up law instead. Not much different though. I still get to stand and speak in front on an audience.
At UKM, I was a varsity debater. I've been to Singapore, Manila and Melbourne. I've taken part in some local competitions too. It helped me a lot, after I've become a lawyer. Even as a writer, debating was one part of my education that made me the person I am today.
So, last Sunday, when I was called by one of the school to assist them in an inter-school debate (regional round), memories started to flood in. It was the best part of my life - being a debater. It was tiring but it was fun.
I was much more witty that I am now. Sometimes, I really miss debating...
I'm glad the school that I gave a 2-hour coaching won the tournament and represented my state in the Final Round.
I'm not really sure how it happened. But all my little offsprings have been speaking English at home like nobody's business. I never actually encourged them to speak English, neither did I discourage them.
The only reason that I can come up with is like this : my husband and I have been busy since both of us are working from home. We don't have a maid. We need something to distract our three active girls.
So, they monopolized Astro's channel 60, 61, 62 & 63. Most of the time it's a close fight between channel 60 and 63. My eldest would prefer the earlier while the youngest, being a toddler would prefer the latter. As a result, the middle child, as always, got stuck in the middle. She had to give in most of the time to either sibling.
Since we never actually play an active role in educating their language education, my eldest picked up her flair in English communication by watching t.v. or playing her computer games (which are all mostly educational). Well, yes, sometimes we do converse in English but, most of the time I speak Malay to them.
The problem comes when they balik kampung. They have problem communicating with other kids in the village. When the kampung kids said, "Ini beruk." My eldest would retort, "No. That's a monkey."
Or, she would go around saying hello to almost everyone that she bumped into and said, "Hi, what's your name?" And the kampung kids would get flabbergasted by her question, especially when she's not even 5 years old.
My mother-in-law speaks to my girls in her Negeri Sembilan dialect, with Kuala Pilah accent. My girls would still reply in English. Well, sometime they would try to imitate the way their grandma speaks.
It's fun, though, watching the three of them having a conversation. It's even more interesting when they try to get around their grandma. Neither of them can really understand each other yet, they can still live happily ever after!
The saga was complete. Revenge of the Sith was more than I expected. I was satisfied with the movie. It gave me all the answers that I've been looking for. It explained why Yoda and Ben Kenobi became the last two surviving Jedis.
I watched it with my other half at the Gold Class Mid-Valley on its opening day. Quite a wonderful experience. But not much to brag about it.
050505 : Petrol is up again. So, whatelse is new? Government chose this to be a date to remember, I guess. Wonderful. More reason to stay in house apart from the extreme heat and traffic jam.
I've been busy for the past few weeks. A lot of things happened. But the one thing that I remember the most was the so-called celebration of my birthday.
Even on my birthday, I was still busy. I wasn't even home. But my wonderful husband was kind enough to bake a moist chocholate cake for me. Anyway, my kids get to enjoy the cake even before I came back. It wasn't their fault, I came home quite late.
I guess birthdays don't mean much as you grow older. But it is a to remember indeed. Nowadays, my birthday is a day to thank God for all the wonderful things that I have and also to my late mother for bringing me into this world. Come to think of if, not many of us would remember to thank our own parents on our birthday. If you are not one of them, well, good for you then.
As I was writing about my little birthday celebration, we went out as a family around six in the evening. By then, all my girls were already famished. We stopped at Pizza Hutt after doing some light shopping for my brother's engagement day. I chose Pizza Hutt because spaghetti was served there. My kids loved them.
By the time the waitress came with our orders, my kids was really restless. I was so nervouse when they started playing with forks and knives. Not to mention the plates. Thank God the order didn't take that long for them to begin throwing knives at each other.
I put small portion of spaghetti into the little plates and all of them started digging. My youngest insisted that she was capable of utilising the fork even though every string of spaghetti kept falling back into the plate. The picture was pretty much the same with my other two girls. My eldest drank her glass of milo and immediately after took her fathers pepsi and then back to her milo. She was probably doing a serious comparison between the two drinks.
Somewhere in the middle of the meal, I lost one daughter. Only to find her hiding under the table. Soon after, the rest followed. All of a sudden, we looked like a couple having a romantic dinner together. But the table was a complete disaster - somewhere between the scale of 6.5 - 7.5 richter!
Still, it was fun watching them enjoying their food tremendously. You can also picture what their pyjamas and face would look like. I had to use a lot of napkins to wipe them clean - well, clean enough to take them out of the restaurant to the car.
It has been a long while since we went out as a family. It is not easy to go out as a couple, either. Whatmore, to enjoy your meal as well as to keep an eye on three active kids.
