our first holiday album

here are some of the pictures of our holiday....

all dressed in anticipation of the cold temperature

cable car ride, wonder how my little one would react when she knows what fear means....

all smiles with her aunt...

the stiff look...hugging mummy and daddy

nadia nasira is an excuse for the adults to re-live their childhood....

a family shot...

for the view behind....

my husband and his sweethearts....

terrified by the clown, yet little nasira wants the balloon...

cuddly cuddly with daddy

nadia nasira managed to stand without support for the first time!

my little one is so interested in the little moving creature....

our first holiday

it is 4.27 am, my husband is fast asleep, though i have the urge to wake him up and show him some stuff on the internet (hahaha which would really annoy him). my little 10 month old nadia nasira is quietly sleeping in her cot, she should be indicating her hunger anytime soon by sucking her thumb and tossing/turning.

i am enjoying a quiet moment of my own, writing on this blog. i thought of recapturing our first family holiday (though i have been married since the may before last!!! didn’t have the opportunity since we had the little one right away). it was my birthday this month, my husband decided to surprise me by taking us on a holiday. i smelled it as i overheard his sister say the word holiday, looking at the calendar. i pretended not to know though i chipped in their quiet discussion saying “whatever you guys are discussing, i am will not be available”. he smsed from paris, i think, i have lost track of his whereabouts (he is a cabin crew with mas, what do you expect!), asking me for his some genting membership number. hah! i knew right away so i gave him an indication that i wanted to go bukit tinggi (hahhaaha women need these skills to silently manage men).

he came back from paris, announcing that he is taking us on a holiday as my birthday gift, all of us, together with his mum and sis. we were to go genting highlands and bukit tinggi (my selection) 10 to 12 january 2008.

it was my birthday eve. i was cooking dinner when my husband announced that he is going out for a teh tarik with his friends after dinner. hahahaah silly me thought that he was going to surprise me at midnight, so i gave him a knowing smile. i fell asleep with little nadia nasira. at 2 am, i saw him creeping in apologetically. it appears that he tried calling me at midnight and left me a message saying “happy birthday, sayang and sorry i almost forgot!!!!”. what??? married man!!! there i was imagining that he was going to surprise me…. guess that only happens when you are dating.

we managed to go for a quiet lunch (no more dinner with the presence of little nasira) that afternoon and when i returned to the office, i saw half a dozen of roses bouquet on my desk. there were teasing smiles from my colleagues. hahaha i knew i was getting flowers not because i actually smsed my husband that morning saying that i wanted 3 flowers (the fact is i miss receiving flowers for my birthday) but because when i called him before lunchtime, i couldn’t get him. i figured that he must be at the florist at amcorp mall (there is no reception at the florist). he got all the flowers that he sent me from this particular florist ever since he courted me in 2005.

we left to genting the next morning and spent wonderful time there. it was so cold for me though it may not be the case for others. i am quite intolerant to cold weather. i was all dressed up in my trench coat and got by without looking weird as i appeared like some arab/indian tourist. my little nadia nasira was enjoying herself looking around and being friendly to everyone who passed by. we went for a few family rides, considering the fact that i was 16 weeks pregnant, no thrill rides. i went up the ferry’s wheel (to make up for still not being able to get on the famous one in lake titiwangsa, kl. i was having nadia nasira back then and again, this one now, 6 months later). the next morning, we decided to go outdoor to get a feel of the cool weather. nadia nasira was looking very stiff for sometime, maybe she was confused with the sudden change of temperature.

we left to bukit tinggi that afternoon downhill and then, uphill on the karak highway. it was a long drive on a winding and uphill road through the banjaran titiwangsa as the shortcut to the french village where we wanted to go was closed due to a landslide. little nadia nasira was crying for sometime due to the pressure in her ears, i suppose. i was busy comforting her. finally we reached the destination, settled down, spent sometime walking around, enjoying the place and view.

we went to the botanical garden and the japanese teahouse in the morning. i really enjoyed myself there. i like anything and everything japanese. it was in a real jungle, such preservation of nature. nadia nasira was again looking around, being so observant, enjoyed looking at the koi in the pond, pointing at the koi and saying shhh…shhh. i guess she was saying fish.

we left bukit tinggi and on the way back, dropped by the rabbit park, again, nadia nasira was so alert and intrigued, pointing at the rabbits while her dad carried her. she made sounds like hhooohh, hhooohh, pointing at them. when her dad let her touch the rabbit, she was still ok until the rabbit jerked, she jerked too and started crying…. guess, she is like me, i can’t tolerate the small, furry, cute little animals…. only look and no touch…. it is soooo geli when they actually sniff at your feet. this reminded me of a cat which jumped on my lap while my friends and i were having dinner after the evening class at a gerai in seksyen 17.

having done with the rabbits, my husband took her to look around. there were some deer and donkeys at the same vicinity. i just waited by the car as i was more interested in going to the stable just down the road. we did go to the stable but did not dare to go in as there were huge guard dogs outside the stable. since, everyone was in the mood to return home and also the fact that my husband was going for flight that night, we decided not to drop by and headed home.

we stopped by the karak highway to buy some lemang and petai, had a very late lunch in ampang before heading home. we reached home just in time for my husband to settle us down (he even made sure that there was hot water for his girl’s milk, this really touched me though i have yet to tell him that), played a while with nadia nasira and off for flight. all in all, we had a great time together as a family.

it is 6 am now, i am going to save this draft and get back to sleep. little one has just had her feeding and i managed to put her back to sleep, though she opened her eyes, waved at me, looked for her dad (hoping to snuggle, i guess), cried a bit when i put her back into the cot, slept right away. this means another few hours of sleep for me!!!!

appeal results

I received an email this morning that says,

Your appeal result is as follows:-

Competency : 2.75 (AT)

Thank you.

Regards
Ayu

during the last appraisal period, i was given a rating of 2.99 out of 3. since it was a 360º appraisal system, i was very happy with the results. but then, it is a company policy that the results are to go through a few layers of moderation. however, even at the first layer, the ratings were moderated to 2.63. i felt very demoralised and decided to appeal.

i feel so victorious and satisfied with the appeal results as it is a sign of acknowledgement from the management. this also means higher increment. yahoooo….

imraz

this morning, a philosophy was shared with me and my boss by my dear friend, imraz ikhbal…. it is a simple one that most of us experience but fail to internalise… “whatever that doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger”. i reflected on it, guess it is very true. i need to remember this each time i go through adversity from now on...

imraz was my colleague when i first started work in 1998 and we both are still in the same department now in 2008… 10 long years…. he was my colleague initially, after a few months, i reported to him from march 1999 to september 2001. then, i moved on to another department within the same company after having learnt as much as possible and continued to be his friend up till now. my everyday interaction with him has always been a learning experience: looking at me through his eyes, about him, politics, religion, life and the list goes on and on…. we had gone through a lot together, been by each other as we went through the good and the bad in life, bickering and telling off each other, yet he is still a friend. he got married a few months after i got to know him, his mother passed away a few months thereafter, another of his loved one followed suit in a tragic manner, he got separated and divorced, he remarried last year. the same year, a black spot in his career was attempted, he was framed with a fraud case he was entirely innocent of but was found guilty, he survived the ordeal & after many months later, his verdict of guilty was yesterday overturned by the appeal committee. this is only a summary of the roller coaster events that took place in the last 10 years of his life. he is the most colourful character that i have known in my life and i am glad to have known him….

and guess what, i married a man who is soooo similar to this guy!!! my karma…..

Me...

this is the current me…. im trying to recollect my life for the past 34 years, a huge job, for sure! considering the power of my mind, which is of low battery all the time, i wonder how many years that would take.

so, i decided that while i try to go down the memory lane, I might as well keep track of my now.