What? No Wedding?

Dear Hubby received a wedding invitation card around two weeks ago. It was on his desk when he came into the office. He brought the card home and it was sitting there in the mengkuang basket for like more than a week before he called me up at home last Friday to check on the Bride-and-Groom’s names. I just texted him their names to which he replied – check the groom’s parents, coz both the bride and groom r not in the office email profile. So when I checked the card, I realized the groom’s mother was someone we actually knew. So that settled it.

And I didn’t look at the card until the assumed wedding day itself, which was on the day after, Saturday the 23rd.

I had my usual Saturday breakfast (hailam coffee and kaya-butter bun)with my Hanis at the nearby restaurant while waiting for my Hanna, Hasya and Haifa to finish up their taekwondo class. It occurred to me then that I didn’t really read what was on the card. What if it was not today, I thought. But I just brushed it aside, and reminded myself to check it when I got home.

Coming back, I had to fetch Dear Hubby from the car workshop where he sent his car to get all his tires changed. And I totally forgot about the card. I had a quick shower and got ready with my kenduri attire. My Hanis wanted to tag along, so we brought her with us. We knew we had to be back before 4pm since the girls would be having their swimming lessons at 4:30pm.

Anyway, off we went. The wedding was in Batu Caves. I looked at the card for the map. Frankly, it wasn’t me at all that day. The usual me would read the card from top to bottom and left to right. But nope, not this time. The map mentioned a Makro Hypermarket on the left of the road, but what we saw was a Tesco. After 10 minutes, we realized something wasn’t quite right. So I called our friend, the groom's mother. It went something like this:

Me : Hi Ros*****, this is DDI.
Ros : Oh... hi DDI. How are you?
Me : Ros.. we couldn’t find your house. I think we’re lost.
Ros : (now sounded confused...) which DDI is this?
Me : Z***’s wife.
Ros : Z***? (now she got more confused) oooh... you’re coming to the wedding...
Me : u-huh
Ros : The wedding’s next monthla... sorry...
Me : (terkedu and started laughing) Oh is it? (laugh some more) BTW, there was no Makro on the way here...
Ros : Hahaha....I made a mistake.... It’s Tesco actually. Sorry DDI, I’m out at the moment or else you can come over.
Me : TQ (still laughing) Our mistake pun... bye!

My eyes darted back to the card. The wedding’s on 27th of June! More than a month to go!!

I felt like a fool for not noticing. Who in the first place mentioned that the wedding was on Saturday? Dear Hubby admitted -he did- but he said wedding cards are usually given like two weeks prior to the wedding, so he just assumed that it was that Saturday... and... errr... expected his Dear Wife to do what she always did – READ!

Aiyo!

The good thing that came out of this (other than listening to my Hanis's rendition of London Bridge is Falling Down and Old McDonald in the car) was we got to try the new DUKE highway that people were talking about. Pretty fast. Impressive.

And so we had our lunch at JM Bariani House in Subang Jaya instead. Macam nasik kenduri jugak, kan?

The funny thing was - the couple with two kids on the next table started a conversation with Dear Hubby when I went to wash my hands. Since it was mentioned that we just came back from a kenduri, apparently Dear Hubby had to 'bohong sunat to save face’. He had to say that we tak puas makan at the wedding, rather than telling the nice couple that we were two meatheads who got the wedding date wrong! LOL!

Admit and Apologize

I wonder why it is so hard for some people to admit or apologize for their mistakes. I mean, if you were to borrow something from a person, it would be expected of you to return the item in the same condition when it was taken. Especially when the lender already told you of the do’s and don’ts in caring for that item. It’s your responsibility to follow the advice so that nothing bad would happen to the borrowed item.

If you spoilt the item, do admit your mistakes and apologize to the owner.. and at least make lah an attempt to compensate, although in most cases would be denied by the owner.

For example, say these:

“Sorry aaa... I tried to mend this thing but I couldn’t make it work. Please tell me how much this cost so that I could buy you a new one”

OR

“Sori. Could you please try to correct this? If you can’t, let me know so that I can pay you the amount you paid for that in the first place, or at least half the price”

OR

“I’m so sorry I did this. I must have spoilt it last nite when I was out collecting some cow dung in the paddy field which was so muddy after a heavy rain the evening before. But I’ll pay you back with the money I got from selling the cow dung”

Sorry, the last one was exaggerated unintentionally.

The lender would then say this, with only a tint of regret :
"I know you didn’t mean to spoil it. It’s OK. I’ll see what I can do. Thanx anyway”. (read : thanx for admitting, but hey, I don't want your money)

But since that person never said any of the three above, we’d have to get into that person's mind to get this out. Here’s the person's unspoken version:

"I know we don’t know each other well. In fact I think I’m only just one of the familiar faces you see around. But I still wanted to borrow this thing from you coz I liked what you have. I know you told me to take care of it coz it was quite fragile.

But I SWEAR to you, I didn’t spoil it. I did nothing at all, it just happened. I know that when I brought it home for one night, it was in a good condition but I SWEAR to you I didn’t know why it was spoilt. I tried to ‘unspoil’ it but I guess by doing that, it got worse. See, it's now totally spoilt, thanx to my effort.

Sorry lah you can never use it again. I suggest you find the solution to make it right, coz it was yours to begin with pun. Use your own money and don’t you dare asking me to compensate coz I didn’t spoil it!"

So who did it? Martha Stewart?

Some people just don’t have the common sense. A non-living thing don't spoil by itself, OK? C'mmon, we're not talking about an apple here. I know the thing cost less than a hundred, but where were your manners? Couldn't admit your mistake, could you?

My friends warned me not to layan that person anymore. But me being me, still do that. I just don’t know how to totally ignore a person. And you know what, that person never asked for the update on the spoilt thing. To him/her, it's water under the bridge.

Now I have to get me a new one. Or get it repaired.

Or perhaps I should just throw it away.

Sigh.

A Hostel in Memory of Donni

..... I'm so proud to be part of this :)

NST Online » Local News
2009/05/15

A HOSTEL IN MEMORY OF DONNI
By : Joniston Bangkuai

TUARAN: Soon, about 100 students from far-flung villages in Kiulu, about 20km from here, will no longer have to endure a tiring long walk to Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tun Fuad Stephens.

Thanks to the alumni of Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) Kulim in Kedah, who call themselves Killerbatch, and the Sabah Credit Corporation, a hostel is being built for the students.

The ground-breaking for the project, which is estimated to cost RM200,000, will be held today in the presence of the students and their parents.

To kick-start the project Killerbatch, which was represented by Raja Ali Raja Othman, presented a donation of RM56,567 to SCC general manager Datuk Vincent Pung yesterday.

He said the rest of the funds would be collected through more fund-raising initiatives such as the staging of a play entitled "Ghazal Party Queen" which is scheduled for Dec 12.

Raja Ali said the heart-wrenching story of Donni John Duin, an 11-year-old school boy who committed suicide two years ago to ease the burden of his poverty-stricken family, prompted Killerbatch to embark on the project.

"The dormitory will be named Asrama Donni in remembrance of the boy," he said.

Donni, a Year Five pupil of Sekolah Kebangsaan Kinarut in Papar, had apparently taken his own life as he could no longer take the teasing from his schoolmates who likened his food, which was packed by his mother, to dog vomit.

"We were all greatly saddened by the heartbreaking event when we heard about it and decided that we must not let it pass unnoticed.

"The hostel is our way to ensure that what Donni went through does not happen again," another representative of Killerbatch, Hasnan Jamaludin, said.

Killerbatch also noted that a recent article in the New Straits Times had stated that about 5,000 teenagers in Sabah had dropped out of school before sitting the Penilaian Menengah Rendah examination.

This was largely because of the long distances the students had to travel to and from school each day.

Describing the project as a bridge between Malaysians in Kulim and Kiulu, Raja Ali said it was in line with the 1Malaysia concept espoused by the government.

New Experiences ... and a New Lens ;)

The weekend’s over, and those two days were pretty hectic for me.

Dear Hubby and I went for a wedding in Segamat on Saturday. Lucky that the groom has given us the detailed instructions of the route to his house via sms, or else we’d never have found the address. It was a good (and looong) six hours of driving thru estates and small towns. And guess what, I got to see Mount Ophir or Gunung Ledang for the first time! If only we got time to spare, we’d have stopped and embraced the beautiful sceneries and gulped in the fresh air...

We came back at 4pm just in time for the kids’ swimming lessons. They had to skip their taekwondo class in the morning so that we could leave earlier for Segamat. Hasya came to me and told me that the baby birds have grown some fine feathers and their eyes opened. So I took out my camera to take some pix and heard something crashed. I was so stunned to see glasses everywhere on the terrace floor. At first I thought my camera had broken. Luckily it was just shattered glasses which used to be the filter. Lucky, lucky me! Only the filter! What if it were the lens??

Apparently Dear Hubby didn’t place the lens cap properly that morning, thus letting the filter exposed to its rounded ends. That was how the filter shattered. Anyway, since we need to use the camera on Sunday, I must get me a new filter.

Dear Hubby sent the girls for their swimming lessons, and I.. dengan kepenatan segala had to mandi etc and left for Subang Parade.

I came home that night smiling. I got myself two new Hoya 58mm filters ... and..a new lens!!! Yay! The lens that came with the camera was a basic one – 18 to 55mm. The newly bought one was a basic one too - 55 to 250mm - but at least I can do a lot of zooming from now on.

Happy happy me. Self-bought mother’s day gift, and thank you Dear Hubby for approving :)

Came Sunday. My Hanna, Hasya and Haifa’s first swimming competition which was held at PADE Shah Alam. We were there at 7:30 am. Many swimmers and parents were already there when we arrived. All three of my girls participated in 50m breaststroke and freestyle. So you can imagine how busy their Ibu clicking away with her new lens...hahaha....

But it was very tiring. Very very tiring especially the waiting-for-the-event game. However, watching the girls trying their best really made me proud. It was indeed a good experience and exposure for them, and their parents as well.

I came home hopelessly wishing for a good body massage. Too bad I was too exhausted to leave the house to get one. I just couldn’t let my maid Nani to massage me, eventhough she was a kampong masseur back home in Indonesia. Segan... better a stranger than a person I know.

So I conked out for a good 2 hours on Hasya’s bed instead!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all current and future mothers - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

A very special wish for my dearest Mak in Alor Setar – Selamat Menyambut Hari Ibu.

No words could describe how much I appreciate all the things you’ve done for us – your boys and girls. Only Allah could repay what you’ve given us all these while. May you be blessed with a great health, infinite happiness and be embraced in a realm of imaan.


I’m happy that you like the cake that Zue has baked for you.

Thank you Zue for making a splendid cake for my MAK :)


Gambar dicilok dari blog Zue!

The Welcomed Guests 2 - Eggs Hatched!

I’m THRILLED! The eggs have hatched! Yay!

I took the two-featherless-baby-birds' photos while the mother was away. I wasn’t able to get the best shots since I was in a hurry to get ready to send Dear Hubby to KLIA this morning. I hope to get the best angle and post later - with their mouths open and necks extended.

See - the nestlings aren't that pretty lah, in fact they look rather ugly! But I’m sure when their feathers have grown, they’ll look like their handsome parents :)
The nestlings- eyes closed and naked.

I'll keep on updating their photos. And you know what ... I guess I'll never be able to eat Burung Puyuh Goreng after this!

***update: pics taken at 7pm on 5th May



Notice the insides of its mouth?


Aww... the hungry lil birdies...