My Baby is ONE!

 future pianist?

My baby turned one yesterday. How time has flown and how she has grown. From a meek little girl who does nothing but sleep throughout most of the day, she won't stay put anymore, not even for a bit. Even throws tantrum when it's nap time coz she still hasn't had enough of playtime. 

naaaww..i just love to play!

Getting clever everyday with new tricks and antics.

yoga anyone?

But she is the perfect little charmer..capturing people's heart with that cheeky smile of hers.

first trip (second actually, this was taken during the flight back home) on an aeroplane

felt like you were just born yesterday (keisha @ 1day old)

Happy birthday dear little Keisha..Soon you will no longer be little but in my heart, you will always be my little girl, my love and my life..

in front of her birthday cake - rainbow+smarties cake made with love by her Aunty Julie (who claims that Keisha is her baby sometimes..hehe!)

Pictures were taken when we were back in KL for a week last week (except for the one when she was a day old of course). She had so much fun playing with the cuzzies (and I guess the cuzzies had equally as much fun - and possibly her mak tok and wan too..hik!) I loved being back in KL, which meant I had suami around. A week flew by in a blink of an eye.

Back in Perlis now and back to the nice laid-back life, but can get lonely without suami around :( Well, at least I have the cheeky little girl with me. She hasn't started walking yet, but forcing everyone to hold her as she tries to walk as if she's an expert. Sigh..but cheeky, clever little girl...you can never get enough of CKD...

The simple life in Perlis

I took this picture while waiting at the traffic light on the way to work yesterday. The motorcyclist had just help close the door of the car that wasn't shut properly. And later proceeded to have a chat while waiting for the light to turn green.

Blissful eh? To be able to trust people around you. No worries about driving the car with the window down..

When I was in KL, I was paranoid as hell driving in town. All the stories I heard about being robbed while waiting at the lights or while waiting in the car or even while being stuck in traffic! The Modus Operandi would be the motorcyclist will smash your car window and grab your handbag that's sitting on the passenger!

And latest I heard, there's some crazy dude on a motorcycle going around splashing acid to people, targeting random ladies in cars!

You could suffocate from all the paranoia from living in KL.

But I'm not saying that EVERYONE here in Perlis are virtuous. Take my recent incident where my handbag got stolen. And there was also an incident where my groceries was ALMOST stolen while I was still shopping.

What happened was, I had paid for the diapers I bought for my daughter and later proceeded to the groceries area downstairs of the store. I put the paid diapers in the shopping cart and left it at the side of the aisle coz the cart couldn't fit through the aisle I wanted to go to. When I came back with my groceries, my cart was GONE!!!

I quickly searched the store, thank god the store wasn't that big and found my cart! Some idiot chinese lady took my cart! And I know it was deliberate coz she had already put some items she into the cart itself! When I approached her, she just sheepishly smiled and quickly left the cart! Not even an apology!! I was just relieved to get my cart back that I didn't manage to give her a piece of my mind!

Sigh..I don't even know if her kid could fit into CKD's diapers! Coz she was with her son, about 7 or 8years old. I dunno if she has a younger child but demmit woman! Why in the hell did u TRY (coz I got the cart back!) to steal my cart?!?

Interesting life and experience I've had here. Mostly it's fine here apart from being away from suami. I actually like it here, liking the fact that its a small town with quaint old shops. I still haven't fully explored this town..mainly contributed from my old big city paranoia of going out on my own (yes! I'm scared to go out alone in KL) also from the fact that CKD is going through her 'terrible two' phase early (she knows how to throw tantrums now) so she's almost impossible to handle right now.

But I could live here, and I could NOT live here too..I don't know..I still can't decide.

But what I know is, I'm going back to KL on Monday! Will be there for a week so its gonna be a week worth of food fest for me. Have already made a list of places I wanna go to suami. Hehe..can't wait!

Plus, CKD turns 1 in a 10days time! Time flies eh? Will be having a small dinner just with the family but she will have a special first birthday cake made with love by her aunty Julie! I think her aunty Julie is more excited to make the cake than CKD can even comprehend! Hehe!

So friends! I will be in KL from the 12th til the 19th! Make time to meet up!!!! See you guys soon!

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More (mis)Adventures

It's flooding here in my new place. No..not my house, but the town. It's starting to get more and more challenging for me to be here now, and I am secretly questioning myself for coming here in the first place.. But before I get to showing you guys some pictures (yes!i have pictures this time!:P) of the flood condition here, lemme just recap on a few more misadventures I've had here since I last updated my blog.

We found out a couple of weeks back that the owner of the house we were supposed to rent pulled out on us. I'm not too sure on why he bailed, but a few days after he informed us of the cancellation and returned our deposit, we found out he had a new tenant willing to pay an extra RM20 for the house rent. Oh well..but 'silver lining' coming right up for this 'cloud'!

Then just last Friday, my handbag got stolen..from INSIDE the house! No, our house was not broken into. Apparently the thief found an open window (our mistake..:( ) and actually managed to pull my handbag out using some galah! ALL my important documents are gone! Including my passport and my bank books! And to make things worse, my mom's wallet was in my handbag too! But the thief was in for a surprise coz there was only about RM50 combined (mom and I) in the handbag. But I CURSE you thief!! I've been setback almost RM300 just to replace all my ID, License etc. I still haven't gotten my passport replaced so that's gonna burn a bigger hole in my pocket soon too.

And come Monday, it started to rain heavily in the evening and didn't stop the next day. Only on Wednesday did it stop raining for a bit in the evening but it already started to flood. Apparently the water from the nearby dam was released, where all 6 doors at the dam was open to relieve the dam and caused most areas in Kangar and Arau to get flooded in.

Being the Occupational Safety and Health Unit for the uni here, our office became the Control Centre for the situation. And driving a Toyota Hilux, my colleagues took full advantage of my car and we went around checking the flood situation. The worst hit is the town centre itself.

the view at the back of my office. the paddy field looks like a lake

road going into the town centre. Jalan Hospital is totally inaccessible by cars.

the town folks are actually enjoying the flood by doing some FISHING! that's the Perlis River. They are even fishing at the paddyfields. such a simple life.

road leading to the EPF Building

Pretty bad eh? And this is the area that I can still go. The main roundabout is closed to cars so I can see people going around in bicycles and a LOT of cars are damaged by this flood. As of this morning, more than 4000 people has been evacuated from their homes. Thank god my house is not affected.

Hence, the silver lining..the house that I was supposed to rent, you guessed it...VERY badly affected by the flood. I guess it's a sign that I should be strong and god has his way of telling me of where to go and what to do..Just need to see the silver lining for my stolen handbag...sigh..

But the beauty of Kangar is, even though the roads are flooded, I was only 2 minutes late for work..and didn't even try to leave earlier (yes..I'm tardy like that!) But in KL...hahah! Even when there is no flood, and I leave home an hour earlier..I can still be late 45minutes to work!!

So that's it for now. It's 12.30pm so I'm going home for lunch. Work resumes at 2.45pm. hehe..hey..I work for the government now and it's a friday..Later peeps!

*only downside, i don't look forward for the weekends much. suami's not around and there's not much to do. I like it better when its a working day! damn! I'm turning into such a nerd!!*

Hiks

This came with my staff ID card. I've never felt more important!hahaha!
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My (Mis)adventures!

Phew! Sorry for being such a slacker. It's the beginning of my week 4 (already?!?!) here in my new hometown and yes..it has been a series of misADVENTURES!! So okay, let's just recap..

Week 1:
Reported in for duty only to find out my office was not where I thought it would be! Thank god this town is small and suami was still around (although I've become more expert about the roads here than he is now! :P) Got to my new office and again! only to find out that they were not expecting me! But all was solved quickly as they made space for me in this cozy office. I didn't have to worry about the awkward first day lunchtime at work, coz just my luck, the office was having their monthly birthday celebration. So lunch with everybody at the office..nice eh?

Found out the basic function of my Unit. I'm with the Occupational Safety & Health Unit. So nope, am not gonna be teaching any kiddos for the mean time. Although the unit's main function is to manage the campus' OSH MS certification (technical lingo, too lazy to explain. maybe later) but our SIDE function are as the Receiving Committee (AJK Sambutan) for ALL of UniMAP's events! And with the amount of events this uni has, it might as well be our main function!hehe! But I am greatful for it tho. It has helped speed up my knowledge on the locations of our very scattered departments and schools. *note: UniMAP doesn't operate in one area, it operates from all parts of this state!:D

Suami left for KL after I came back from work on my first day. So sweet of him to send and pick me up for my first day, but it didn't make the separation any easier. He had to go back to KL to settle some stuff with our condo before we put it up for rent.

So for the first week that I was here, I have had to attend THREE events and become the Liason Officer to a VIP..and receive my first visitor. Thanks Amad! Nice to see a familiar face!

Week 2:
I had to attend a 4-day training as a Lead Auditor conducted by NIOSH. Nice! So still not much work done by me, but we did manage to go around and audit one of the departments. Finally, some REAL work!

Week 2 was not without any events either! I think we had 2 major events happening at the campus, some Inter-ASEAN uni Tennis Tournament and Malaysian University Robot(ic) Competition which each had their Formal dinner and respective ceremonies. Which also meant - 2 event x 2 programs = 4 events my unit had to go to. There goes my weekend!

At least by mid-week, suami was back in town. So I was chauffeured to and fro from work. :) And I had my second visitor, my hommies Anies & Sapik who was back for the weekend.

But the MAJOR misadventure for this week was finding out about the condition of the house we were supposed rent. My heart sank when I saw the inside part of the house for the first time. Let me just quote my mom on it.."It looked like a torture chamber! Even the prison looks better!" 

So began our frantic journey in looking for a new house to rent. IT WAS SO FREAKING HARD! and I was stressed outta my head. But I have to thank all those of you who responded to my frantic BBM & FB statuses and my frantic tweets. I am touched with all the help you guys offered!

Let's just say, it's easier to look for a needle in a haystack than finding a house to rent in Perlis.

Week 3:
Another week of 4-days training for me but this time was on Basic first-aid. Not even the end of my first month, already I have completed my 7days training quota for the year! :)

The Uni's event calendar was looking pretty clear for the week except for the New Student Council ceremony on Saturday. so not so bad.

And the best news was, after frantically looking for a house to rent (sometime even considering to buy), my dearest suami finally found us a place. It needs some repairs but definitely a space I could work with! *happy* Insya allah we'll be moving into our new place in April.

And yesterday, I took my mom and CKD to Alor Star. I wanted to cook spaghetti and wanted to go to Tesco to look for some of the ingredients. Secretly, I just wanted to be in familiar grounds..:P We had a good day-trip driving along the 'Terusan Wan Mat Saman' - the famous water canal built years ago to supply water for the vast paddy fields along the entire journey (will definitely write about this in the future and with pictures!) I even felt a bit adventurous taking the back way back to Kangar, passing by rawkstar's parents' house..:)

But the downside of my week was that suami has gone back to KL since he will be starting his new job today and is indefinite on when he will be back here..*bawls*

However..I am definite as when I will be back in KL..hiks! Have already applied for my annual leave for it (over kan!baru keje tak sampai sebulan dah apply AL!!hahah!)..See you guys soon!

I am here now

I'm here..in Perlis. And I am going through withdrawal symptoms as anies puts it.

I've never been gracious in accepting changes and I have a pretty embarrassing track record.

First time I had to leave home was when I was 13. Off to boarding school..my coping mechanism was to imagine that it was all just a dream! I didn't stop begging my mom to let me come home til I was 16! 4 years! Only when I was in my final year did I started to enjoy my school..I'm thankful my mom didn't give in..

The next major move I had to do was when I went to uni for the first time. To think 5years in boarding school would prepare me for it..oh boy! I didn't eat for a week...til my dad came and visit for a bit before he went back to my hometown. I started to feel a bit human when I made friends with some of the girls at my dorm. And I'd look forward for my lunch time coz that was when I would be able to see some of my friends from high school who went to the same uni. But most of the time, I'd keep to myself and cry on the phone to my then boyfriend (who was in another uni in JB) every night. Mind you, there were no handphones then (well, not like they have it now) so it was the good'ol public phones. I spent a fortune calling him (who was soo hard to get in touch-so I ended up talking to the next best person, his bestfriend- also in the same uni as he was, which might not have been the best decision) and don't get me started on the queuing to use the phone..ahhh..the good'ol days..

And this is major too...I've left ALL that is familiar to me to come to a place that I know deep down will give me all the opportunities for my career to grow without losing my quality of life.

But you can't have it all...

Suami just got a new job in KL with a major bank company. So far the prospect seems good for him. But he promised, give him at most a year to get everything sorted out and try to get a transfer here in Perlis.

My pillar of strength is not around..so what do I do?? Lose all control of my tears dam....

Like I said..I don't accept changes graciously..I'll become an introvert, lose my appetite and make my suami worry by crying every chance I get. I suck!

I know things will be fine..I know that this is the right choice..I just don't want to be a sport yet. Let me sulk..let me be a brat but I promise I'll try.

Give me at least a week and we'll see how I progress ok?

And thanks guys! For the moral support! You know who you are!

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Train of thoughts..

I always seem to find myself dwelling in my past memories which I will cringe and my next thought is.."What the hell was I thinking?" I always thought what if things were different? Would I've been a different person? If yes, would I be better or worse than I am now?

In a way, I hope my daughter would never have to go through what I had to. But there were parts of my experience that had help build my character and made me a wiser and stronger person that I am today. That came because I wasn't blessed with money or the luxuries in life. But I wasn't denied the basic needs either.

Where I am today, and what I can become in the future, insya-allah I would be able to afford to give and provide my child with all those 'material' stuffs. But should I? To what extend should I limit my providing her? I would love to have her 'earn' what she wants from me..but what is the limit? When will it be too much?

I see kids these days and I am sometimes appalled at what they have. A handphone at the age of 6?? Don't even start on those PSPs and iPads or even laptops! Hell..I had my first phone when I was in Uni..laptop? About 2-3years ago! Maybe its the day and age where technology is a necessity rather than a luxury, but seriously..a handphone at 6 years old can't seem right can it?

I think when I was 6, I would've been happy if my parents were to get me a bicycle or a set of cooking toys or maybe a barbie doll! But then again, those days, handphones were those huge things that looked like briefcases carried by contractors who went to the sites!

So how do we gauge ourselves as the modern day parents? Moving to Perlis would probably mean a different exposure to my child. I hope she'll play outside more rather than plonk herself in front of the telly..I hope she'll read like I used to - my mom would buy me 1 enid blyton book a week when I was a kid, sadly I've lost my entire enid blyton collection due to the amount of moving we did when we were younger. I hope she'll be kind to people and people to her..I hope for the best for her, nothing less.

But what is the best? I didn't get the best neither did I get the worst but I had happiness. Maybe hoping for happiness would be better that hoping for the best? What do you think?

Whatever it is, I hope my child will live a better life than I did and become a better person than I am..I think that's much better eh?
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