An ode to tok..

Its been 3 days since the death of my paternal grandmother, the only grandparent i have left. she died at 6.10 pm on sunday at damansara specialist hospital after battling colon cancer for 2 years. i am devastated as my mother n i was at d hospital from 2am till d following evening, but at 430 we decided 2 leave and go home to freshen up n rest before going back to d hospital. alas, as muslims would say it. takde rezeki. we were not there when she she passed. we arrived 10 mins too late. just in time to hear d doctor pronounce her gone.

Arrangements were immediately made to bring her back to terengganu whr she wants to be laid to rest. right next to my late grandfather who passed away 18 years ago. after mandi n solat jenazah, we left at midnite for our last trip back to kampung with tok..

We were sleep deprived, having not have slept a wink d nite before. my dad fell asleep behind d wheel countless times resorting to me 'tepuk-ing' and 'tumbuk-ing' his back to keep him awake, even while doing thet he dozed off a couple o times. takut sgt.

We arrived at 5am. we had another prayer for her and she was buried at 10am. we held a tahlil for her that nite. the following day, most o d family returned to kl.

I sat in the kitchen reminiscing the memories i had as a child. running in and out o this kitchen as the adults were busy cooking. watching tok manning d 'dapur arang' dat she takes out on raya. and wen i was older, getting scolded for eating openly wen i was not fasting during dat time o month. i can picture it so clearly, her rounded figure sitting on d chair at d kitchen door, stooped over d kuali, 'kacau-ing' d dish she's preparing ever so lightly for fear it would 'pecah' or 'hancur'. giving instructions and orders to all those arnd her.

I remember once she was staying with us and d mamak roti came by, we ran to tok asking for money to buy sweets n snacks n she gave us a 50 ringgit note to buy snacks at d mamak dat would probly cost 1 ringgit 4 us both! we tot we were in rotiman heaven!

And on raya morning, we cucu's would stand in line in front o her awaiting our turn to receive our raya packets. we older cucu's would naturaly recieve more den d younger ones. pastu action la sket.

but i am glad we went to c her d nite b4 she passed. it was d last time i saw her lucid tho barely so. she was restless n kept asking to be proped up on her bed (she was bedridden by dis time), only to ask to lie down d next minute. this went on a couple o times n after midnite, she was back in d hospital.

raya will not b same without our matriarch from now on. n there wont b anymore trips to visit her on weekends. she will be sorely missed. here is a pic of her in her younger days with my youngest aunty

In loving memory of tok,
1st February 1929- 25th January 2009

if only i had longer legs

went jogging w my dear fren nenah td! 'jogging' is like our code name for jom g lepak mkn2! but td, initially we were rather psyched about doing some actual jogging, or rather i was! but den it rained. i texted her ' babe hujan. whr goes?'. to which she replied 'haiyaa! we go melantak.. tunggu ujan stop'. and with dat, my semangat went rite our d window. strong willed person i am eh? haha!

stopped by nat's 2 get d kain im suppose to tempah 4 my bridesmaid baju for her wedding pastu tok su dier ajak masuk rumah we politely declined ' xpe tok su, nk jogging nih (bear in mind it was raining at d time, nmpak sgt menipu!) all d while we were on d phone w nat herself. pastu tibe2 natira bengong ckp. 'eh korg, baju i dah smpai tau, my mom dah amek'. giler i nk balik xtgk baju dier dulu???

maka dgn muka yang teramatlah tebal, i rang d doorbell again n tersipu-sipu malu-malu kucing said to tok su , 'tok su...bole xkitorg nk tgk baju nat kejap..?marah x?? ajak la kitorg masuk lg skali...' hahaha!! drop my water face u!

anyways! her baju is beautiful! unfortunately i cant tell u anything bout it lest nat strangle me with her bony fingers!

pas2 we pg lah jugak park tuh...smpai2 jer (dahla park btul2 tepi gate park tuh) we headed straight 4 d jenny hong lorry to get our wajib fix o a bowl o tau foo fah and soya bean drink each. but oh so sedih! tau foo fah habis!! oh d horror!! we settled 4 d drink and malaiko cake instead. btw malaiko cake sgt sedap ok but no pics sorry, terlalu intent on eating d cake and lari dari monyet yg suka curi makanan org. takut.

we den brought our food n sat on d steps by d lake. xjog pon ok. surprise surprise. haha! duduk kejap den tgk sumer org arnd us burning off calories. felt our own calories rise like d sun in japan. kecik ati tgk org lain so we pon jln lah...we jln ok..not even breeze walk..jalan smbil ketawa n habiskn d rest o d cake..den we saw a newly constructed bridge that goes over d creek dah leads to d lake n we were looking at d fries(baby fishes) n pikir cemane nk tangkap (or rather i was) wen it started to rain again. so we were lke..ok..kene jln cepat2...tp tetap terkedek2 ketawe2 lagi..tibe2! ujan lebat sgt2!!! i ran like veronica campbell brown at d olympics (ceh-or so i tot) terjejut calories yg baru masuk td...masuk kete ketawe lg sbab kt traffic light dis lady next to our car was waving wildly trying to get our attention n i was thinking..eh kenal ke? rupe2 nyer dlm hujan lebat nk mati tuh, di tgh2 jln, dier nk mintak directions. so i had 2 wind down d window to tell her which way 2 go, n in d process got wet. penat berlari mcm world runner td, last last basah jgak.

oh well, least i got a bit o workout done didnt i?

btw, dis is nenah, my darling buddy since std 1! d minah gonjeng who always makes me laugh smpai semput2!

jalan jalan end of 2008

ive put off blogging bout my recent travels long enuf. baik tulis skarang b4 i forget. even now i cant remember d dates. its rather confusing u c. i know i left 4 cape town on d 23rd of dec, or was it 24th?anyway!we went to cape town! but b4 smpai, we transit dulu kt johannesburg..den transit agn kt buenos aires..sungguh lama nk smpai..penat duk dlm aircraft, nk turun papa xbg coz he had 2 work so if i went down id b alone, n he'd b like cacing kepanasan takut org bwk lari anak dier yg keras kepala sorg nih. so bearing in mind that we (papa n i SAHAJA ok!) had another 10 days to go, i figured, it wouldnt hurt to obey my dear father (sebenarnye takut malu kene marah dpn crew) dis one time.

each transit was about an hour n a half. pastu finaaaaaly smpai la jgak..we stayed at d southern sun cape sun hotel (so manny suns..). smpai2 je we checked in den papa cepat2 nk beli pie coz he was afraid d kedai tutup awal sbab xmas eve. janna being janna cannot tgk supermarket without going waaaaaauuuuu over every little choclate snowman and marshmallow tree. i got d roasted chicken. sgt sdap n tender w crispy skin. xtremely unhealthy but who cares, im on holiday! tp xde gamba sbab both of our hands were covered with greasy goodness. pas dh kenyang we took d hotel shuttle to d water front. sgt gorgeous! i went to capetown once wen i was 9. my dad was posted thr for 4 months m we used to go down to d water front everyday. now it looks so diff!all new n shiny! n malls!!lots n lots o malls!mostly restaurants but still pretty 2 look at.d next day we went on tour w dis lady named soraya who was really chatty n so funny! she curses like a truck driver but is really very alim! she's a cape malay. its easy to get halal food around sbab kt sini ramai muslims. yeay 4 me! i can pengsan klu xmkn meat everyday.

haih..penat la...klu nk citer activity everyday esok pon xabes write. to summarize it all. i saw penguins, seals, dolphins (tp jauh la), ostriches, biawaks, seladang like animals (all wild ones mind u). n i ate n ate n ate. xshop coz it was cuti.xmas pas2 new year, plus d things were quite xpensive. but i did buy a pair o gap leather flats. which turned out to have pig skin lining. crap. siap dah pkai jln2 kt sana. tp pig skin 2 kecik je! wateva la kn. n one o d stwards was mugged at jo'berg. he was held at gunpoint on his was 2 d mall which is only about 7 mins from d hotel. scary x?? pas2 kitorg trus takut nk pg...tp pg jgak..mkn kebab n big mac..kempunan tgk adverts. n ice cream!!

overall! i think south africe is truly a very beautiful place. it was beautiful before, its even more beautiful now! but d gov needs 2 do something bout d crime rate. its crazy n seriously scary. we never ever went out after dark as advised by d locals. as for buenos aires. i didnt like it much thr. firstly! finding halal meat was near impossible! i had kebab which i chose 2 believe was halal tho my dad said it was questionable! i xwas-was k!! the crime rate wasnt as bad as in africa whr dey were really aggresive. but here theres alot o pick pockets. many a time, my dad went back 2 d hotel n discovered his bag was unzipped. menyesal org tuh. dlm bag only got mineral water n lingham chilli sauce!hahaha gatal sgt bukak bag org!papa swears by linghams! n the country is quite dirty. a lot o litters n ramai sgt beggars. kesian. tp takut. thrs dis gang o pick poket-ers called d mustard gang. their modus operandi is 2 (accidently) spill paint all over d victim (mostly tourists) n pretend to help u wipe it off. b4 u know it, they're gone, as is ur wallet, cred cards, handphones n sumtimes even passport. takut.


byk nyer dh tulis. mesti ader org dah tertido. ok b4 i go i show u sum pics ok.

papa's sick day.. :(

i was awoken at 5am this morning by the panic screams of my sister and mom. groggy and disoriented i rushed to whr the screams were coming from. imagine my horror and shock to find my father slumped unconcious on the floor of my parents bedroom. my mom had him on her lap and was calling his name over n over again. i vaguely heard sumone screaming about calling an ambulance.

in the chaos, everyone forgot the cordless phone was disconnected. in a trance, i rushed back to my room and threw everything off my bed looking for my handphone. i called 999 and while waiting to get connected went back to c my dad was still unconcious. at dat moment, i was so afraid of wat could and might happened. my mom was sobbing and my sister was panicking, the baby was crying, it was truly a nightmare. i was giving my address to the operator wen my dad came to. mom said to cancel the ambulance, that we would take him ourselves.

my mom kept asking him if he was ok, he moved his arm and muttered incoherantly for a few seconds before he asked, wat happened?? my mom explained that he fell wen he got up to turn off the alarm clock and fainted. he was quiet for a while then he looked up at all of us and asked again..wat happened? this went on for about 15 minutes in which time he repeatedly asked wat happened.

he could not remember wat happened the day before. he couldnt recall who he had dinner with, or dat he just got back from amsterdam, or dat tok is in the hospital or anything in the past few days. after a while he stood up and walked around for a bit. at this point, we were glancing at each other hoping against hope he was going to b fine. he spent the next hour trying to recall wat actually happen.

in the morning, mom took him to d hospital whr, after a brainscan, the neurologist confirmed that the reason he fell was because of his low BP. he blacked out for a second and as he was still groggy, couldnt find his balance and fell backwards right on his back, hitting his head on the floor causing him to have a concusion hence the failure to recall events of the previous day. he fell so hard it triggered our house alarm.

i just want to say how grateful and thankful i am that he is fine. he's got a bit of a fever and a raging headache but otherwise its nothing serious. alhamdulillah. not much in the mood to write fun stuff. but for some reason, he remembered that he bought me smarties at amsterdam. is it inappropriate dat i think it sweet dat he did?

p/s: the smarties sedap sgt..tp byk colouring, msia now got 'with non-artificial colours' punye which is really good for people like me who can down 3 boxes in a day. but d choc in d shell is really good..rase mcm dark choc.. i love u pa..so many!

super trooper!!

its raining out..n i need a massage..my back is killing me...

anyway back to more important matters..ayun my dear dear fren is in hospital yet again. as most ppl probly know, she has a rare (but benign thank god!) condition dat causes her right jaw bone to grow abnormaly. she had it 'shaved' (i imagine it to b like sandpapered) 3 times already but it kept growing n it hurts sumtimes n is quite unsightly. so on monday, she it removed. the 'it' im reffering to is indeed her right jawbone. so as of now, my gorgeous fren is sans half a jawbone. the right side of her face is being held up by titanium thingys. sadly, she will have to undergo another major op in 3 months time to extract her hip bone to replace the jawbone they removed earlier. but thankfully she's doin well. a lil too well if u ask me! smlm operate harini dah boleh mkn n mengumpat dgn begitu merry nye!

c dat lil bottle hanging like an earring? its abt d size of a vitagen n its to extract blood from her wound so it wouldnt cause any infection. wen d bottle is full dey will replace it. and as of today, they've replaced the bottle twice, that is her 3rd! byk nye blood!! she's in the high dependency unit (HDC). pastu so funny td, dis old old old man was also in d ward, but so kesian la he..anyway! he was trying to get off the bed throughout d nite smpai nurses sumer penat ngn dier..wen i was thr the nurse put a blanket over him and told him nicely to not move so much as he was connected to so many machines and wyres n stuff. next thing we know, he kicked off the blanket and with his legs, rolled the hospital gown right up to his waist...exposing everything... hmmm...xpatut xpatut...den thr was dis guy who was going for his op 2moro . he walked arnd like he was d mayor n asked everyone , u sakit apa?. turns out, after 5 years o not being able to talk (something wrong w his voice box or bak kata ibu ayun, sound system rosak!) he baru je bole berckp balik. so xabes2 nk ckp ngn everyone! lepas geram la tuh...ksian..

Had this lastnite...oh sungguh sedap! happy chinese new year!