The Saturday before school reopened on 25 June, the boys went for their cut.

Remember my PLEASURES OF YESTERYEARS entry?
I talked about a ‘boy’ in a ‘sink’. And posted Imin’s picture.
Here’s one of Pau2. And Imin again. For comparison.

I am dead beat now.

But I really must relate the following incident which occurred today - I meant yesterday, 23 June (didnt realise it was past 12), while I was at Larkin, Johor Bahru and while I was back in SG, inside Ibu Ros’ car:

At Larkin, I stopped by a CD shop. I came across a few CDs of Quranic readings by Asri Ibrahim, the lead vocal for Rabbani. I love that man’s voice! Really, I do. Whenever I hear him recite the holy words of the Quran, I can just close my eyes and be swayed by his deep, rich and moving booming voice.

There were several options. I couldn’t decide which to buy. So I asked Hubs for opinion. Not much help, he’s totally like ‘anything also can’. So I decided on one particular CD (CDs are at Ibu Ros’ car now, I couldn’t remember the titles). I went inside the shop and asked to try.

Shopkeeper obliged. I listened. I liked. I bought.

Just as I was paying, Hubs came and said: Buy two. I thought: Why not? The CD was affordable, at MR19 each, it was a steal.

So I asked Hubs to grab the CD on Surah Yasin By Asri Ibrahim. I gave it to the shopkeeper. Shopkeeper proceeded to play the CD. But I said: No. Reason being it was so very hot there I wanted to get out as fast as I could.

Shopkeeper put both of the CDs into a bag. Imin came up to me and asked for a box of raisins. I said ok. He took one. I gave to shopkeeper. Shopkeeper put the box of raisins in the bag of CDs.

Now each CD was MR19.90. I did not know how much was the box of raisins but I figured MR50 should be more than enough. Shopkeeper handed me change. It was MR10. I thought: Hmm MR40 for 2 CDs, and I get a box of raisins free? I wanted to ask but I was beginning to get heat stroke in there, that I just grabbed the bag and rushed out.

Back at Ibu Ros’ car, I opened the CD of Surah Yasin and asked Hubs, who was driving, to play it. It was sensational.

Later, in the evening, on the way to Tampines for an opening ceremony of a learning café, I sat in the car and asked Hubs, who was driving, to change the Surah Yasin CD to the other CD that I bought (the one that I listened to at that Larkin shop).

I took the CD cover and proceeded to open it. Suddenly, I realized the CD case was empty. I looked at Hubs and he looked at me.

I groaned.

I left the CD itself back at the shop at Larkin. Apparently, the shopkeeper had forgotten to put the CD back into the case after I requested to listen to it!

Ow man!

 
The other day, a friend Lubna remarked, via MSN: uve taken a hiatus for ur blog

It’s true. And yes, Blossom dearie, I have not forgotten the game yet. I’ve just been too busy!

And now that the department is hoisting itself up to 2 floors above, the Big Boss was asking for new logos, new signboards yada yada yada. Pretty tight these days.

Anyways, in the midst of allowing medical practitioners to toy around with human subjects, I handled a couple of queries and did some checking. I received the following email (copied word per word) from a peer in an institution. For those who are in ethics line, you’d understand the feeling I am having right now:

Yes. But these small matters are really a big help. They are using the wrong version of PIS, you just saved something unethical. Have a good weekend.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAU2! Pau2 turns 3 today – 9 June. What a journey, a noisy one I might add. This bundle of fat cheeks and tremendous joy is almost impossible to resist. Three years ago, he came bursting into life, pretty impatient, a month before schedule. But he gave me the shortest labour imagine (NATURAL birth, no epidural, no drugs, no nothing. Why? NO TIME!) – less than 45 mins.

My wish for him – is the likes of what each mother would wish for her child. May this burst of sunshine stays fun and funky and continues to shower the lives of others around him with much love and laughter always.

Here’s some snapshots.

Overheard this:

Voice 01 Here’s another one ..
(Interrupted.)
Voice 02 Oh so many! I can’t do anymore! I am so busy! (Almost begging)

Conclusion: To expect workload to increase when you are not at your desk for the last couple of days, even for legitimate reasons, like being on medical leave, on course, out of town etc. Being away from your desk does not equate to your work being done for you while you are away.

Morale of Story: Wake up and smell the coffee.

I like where I sit.

My cubicle is situated just like the Straits of Melaka, back in its glory days. I am very near to the printer (which I use a lot, in my job capacity, as a tree-killer) and also to the copier (which I use a whole lot more, in my other job capacity, as a No. 1 tree-killer). From where I sit, I get to view the part of the entrance, albeit covered by a gigantic board but at least I can tell who walks in and out and also since my cubicle is halfway in the entire length of the room, I can also tell what is happening at the back. Waaaaaay back.

Often, when I print something out, I would be too lazy to move my butt up and grab the printout from the printer. So I would sit and wait and wait. As 99% of the people in the office depend on one printer only (and that’s the one placed just barely 1.5 steps away from my cubicle), sooner or later (usually sooner than later) someone would come to the printer to collect their own printouts. And whilst doing so, they would find mine (I have ‘authored’ my name on top of each of my printouts) and would then very easily pass them over to me. Nice people in the office do that, yes. Nice people like dear Ms Seet. He he.

However, as my cubicle is alongside the common alley where people walk past, some of my colleagues find that my cubicle is very distracting (as in like, how can you work like that?) because it is right in the middle of heavy traffic. But I like.

But for one particular .. let’s call this species LIPAS KUDUNG.

You know what is a LIPAS KUDUNG? Taken from Wikipedia Indonesia, LIPAS (cockroach) KUDUNG (amputated) is described as ‘selalu (always) sibuk (busy), tangan (hands) hamper (almost) tak pernah (never) berhenti (stop) bergerak (moving) untuk (to) melakukan (do) sesuatu (something)’  > http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seperti_lipas_kudung

You get the picture?

Anyways, this LIPAS would scurried here and there, rushing here and there, very often giving me unexpected breeze and spraying orders here and there, with a voice so shrill you just cannot believe it - fortunately, not to me, but to some unfortunate soul. It's very distracting and extremely annoying, on some days. 

Very often, I feel like shaking this LIPAS and telling it to get a grip! Control thyself! Do your time management well! There’s no need to rush ALL THE TIME! RELAX! And after all, YOU ASKED FOR IT! Duh!

Sheesh.

The way one looks at how this LIPAS works, one would think the world’s entire problems are on its shoulder.

IT HAS BEGAN.

Both Hubs and Imin now are down with fever and sore eyes. Each spots a left red eye that threatens to spread to the other and to others in the family.

Sigh .. 4 days more to Pau2’s birthday. Hopefully, things will improve and we would be able to celebrate Pau2’s big day with a big bang, despite having the entire clan leaving for a holiday drive up to KL this Thursday.

But something made me grumble this morning when I stepped in to work. I was away on Friday last week and when I came in today (Monday), there was a mess on my desk!

Apparently someone had been using my desk as a punching station. Not that I mind, but those who have known me, would know that I am a clean freak. And an organized one at that! A FREAK! Today, I had to clear bits of papers and small round dots on my desk and things on my desk were in disarray!

 Who is this culprit? You are most welcome to sit at my desk but kindly leave things the way you found them!