blank stares on blank pages

I love these songs. Both. I hope you'll like 'em too.

This blog will be on hold.

Not sure when I'll be back.


Ubi: head under water & trying to breathe

kataku padamu

Kau katakan pada hati.. "I've moved on"
Kau percaya dan rasakan memang begitu
Tapi ada masanya, hatimu tidak sekuat itu, kau tau?
Adalah lebih baik seseorang yang pernah melukai hati itu kau buang jauh-jauh
(Alangkah baiknya kalau dia boleh kau ikat dan campak ke lautan Pasifik. Tapi kau tak boleh lakukan itu, kan?)
Kekal berkawan itu langkah yang silap
Kerana seberapa pemaaf pun kamu
Walau beribu kali pun kau katakan pada dirimu bahawa dia tidak penting
Akan tiba masa,
Hatimu diguris lagi
Hindarilah dia.


*******

It is hard to take care of other person's heart when you are the one who bleed silently.


Please, I need to stay sane to finish off this episode of my life.


I don't need another drama.


*******

E.A.R.T.H H.O.U.R 2008

The first Earth Hour was held last year in Sydney as a campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This year it became a global movement. Joining other 25 major cities around the world (none from Malaysia yet), Christchurch will be the first New Zealand city to switch off the lights for climate change. The Garden City will be in darkness for one hour starting 8.00pm.

Earth Hour 2008 will be tonight, March 29, 2008, at 8.00pm.

I have signed up to do my best to reduce energy use but I will not be at home @ 8.00pm. Will be having dinner out with my mates. I just found out that the restaurant we booked will also turn their lights off at that time (woweeee, romantika candlelit dinner? or just eat in the dark?). Will make sure that we turn everything off before we leave home.

Will you?

bahu untuk kau menangis di atasnya*

Orang kata...

kawan semasa ketawa mudah dicari,
kawan ketika bersedih, payah.

Tapi aku sedih juga kalau aku hanya kau cari ketika kau bersedih.
Masa ketawa dilupakan. Aku pun nak ketawa juga, kau tahu?


****************

Pengakuan ikhlas terbuka (yang akan membuatkan 4 orang manusia kembang) :

Aku sayang teman-teman serumahku.


****************


Entah kenapa, kebelakangan ini, aku suka berbahasa ibunda (walaupun tatabahasaku tunggang langgang, tak kira dalam bahasa apa pun kutulis).


****************

*terjemahan yang poyo

O my beloved state

I spoke to my twin nieces on the phone the other day. As usual, I would be asking them for updates from their kindergarten. Usually they would sing me the latest nursery rhymes or short nasyid they learnt but this time, when I asked what they wanted to sing for me, they chose songs that I did not expect they would choose. Afiqah sang Negaraku and Adibah sang Selamat Sultan! Little DikYa was also in the background humming along to her sister singing but with rather 'dok bbuttir' lyrics. Those patriotic young souls!!

What struck me was, the Selamat Sultan was different from the one that I remember by heart. I googled and found out that they've changed the lyrics since 1990!! Oh my... I don't even know the new lyrics! I was in a school that sang "Berkatlah Yang Dipertuan Besar di Negeri Sembilan" when they changed the Terengganu state song.

Here's Selamat Sultan, as how I remember it:

Allah peliharakan Raja kami
Memerintah Terengganu Negeri
Allah peliharakan Raja kami
Sejahtera suami isteri
Allah perliharakan Raja kami
Sentosa rakyat negeri

The new one, that Adibah sang for me yesterday:

Allah daulatkan Tuanku Sultan
Terengganu Darul Iman
Allah peliharakan Tuanku Sultan
Sejahtera sepanjang zaman
Allah rahmatkan Tuanku Sultan
Memerintah rakyat aman

Now, in the song, the Ganus wish that Allah rahmatkan Tuanku Sultan in order to memerintah rakyat aman. I pray for that too. I've been following news/blogsposts and everything I can get my eyes on about the state where my heart lies. I seriously have no idea who's good and who's bad.. who will do the job well and who will not, or who will make a better leader for the people. I reckoned those in the Palace have their valid reasons to appoint the new ''chosen one".

When I heard the name of the chosen one, I asked a friend, who's this guy, how does he look like? (the papers have not put up his photo at that point in time). What is he like?
So a friend pointed me to a video on youtube that made me go;

HUH???

OMG.

Apsal dia cakap macam samseng? 'Gong' je bbunyi.

And what's that name calling, using that bab* word to call others in a State Council meeting?

What is that??

That was my FIRST impression.
It wouldn't be fair if I judge him just by that single videoclip I saw but I expect leaders to lead by example.
If he is to be the one, I hope he'll be a wiser and use better words when he speaks, even when he's provoked.

I really hope things will be solved, soonest.

.

Di wajahmu kulihat bulan

siapa kata automatic compact camera tak boleh ambik gambar rupa bulan?

Di wajahmu ku lihat bulan
Yang mengintai di balik senyuman
Jangan hilangkan ku tiada berkawan
Hamba menantikan tuan...


*****


TUAN?? siape lahhhh tuan tu ya?
Dokter? loyer? majistret? ahlil muzik???
Wahai tuan, are you out there?
Do you even exist?


*****

Brader security tu mesti ingat aku gila. Dia nampak aku tercegat dekat parking pukul 3pagi, dia ingat kereta aku rosak, terus datang check. Aku tengah duk shooting bulan.. hehe... ampun maaf le bang kalau menyusahkan.

Ubi: Who's the original singer of the song? I have no idea.

.

Thursday I don't care about you. It's Friday, I'm in love...

...in love with the sand, the sea and the sky...

There are days when I just cannot resist the temptation to go out and enjoy the sun, even when I know there are loads of things to be done.


.

main masak-masak biri-biri

When I cook, I never really take note of how much ingredient I put in every dish unless if I follow a step by step recipe. I'm unreliable that way. As long as I can remember, I've never been able to cook anything that taste the same twice.

Elviza asked for my ikutsukahati lambchop recipe. El dear, I can't remember exactly how much I use each ingredient, here's an agak-agak list.

What I used:
6 Small Lamb pieces (I have no idea which part they come from)

Marinate with:
2 Tablespoon soy sauce (I have here kicap manis ABC from Indonesia)
1 Teaspoon crushed garlic

1-2 dash of Worchester sauce
1 Teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes (or ground parsley)
few dash of ground white pepper
A pinch of salt

Veggies to go with the lamb chop:

Mushroom, carrots, capsicum, zucchini (+ any vegetable you like)

1. In a bowl, mix everything & marinate lamb pieces for 1 hour
( I marinated overnite in the fridge, I wanted to cook right after I mix them all at night but my flatmate said 'bawak mengucap sikit, dah malam2 nak makan kejap lagi nak tido!').

2. Grill/panbroil the lamb pieces on a non-stick pan (or if you have, grilling pan). Keep the leftover marinate mix in the bowl.

3. Cut mushroom, capsicum, carrot & zucchini. Toss them in the bowl with leftover marinate. Sprinkle with olive oil. When the lamb pieces are done (or medium raw?), move them to plates & panbroil the veggies.

When ready, add the veggies to plates, makan!

Eating rampage

Women always have 'that time of the month' to blame for whatever wrong they do to their body, err, I correct that, not all women, I do that.

About week before 'that time', I'd have the food cravings mengalahkan mak buyung kembar lapan. I want to eat everything despite the fact that I no longer feel comfortable in my favourite jeans and the pointer at the weighing scale keep moving to the right.

On Thursday night my mind just stopped, I could not think. I texted my former officemate, "I need desserts & good coffee to keep me sane, care to join me out for a cuppa?". She agreed. Thank God they now have C0ffeeCulture in the nearest small town, the only cafe that opens past 9pm (think GG's Stars Hollow, the town is a bit like that). So we went there. As I stepped into the cafe, saw one whole cake labelled 'Chocolate Banana Cake' & instantly I ordered a slice without even checking what else they had in the display. In my mind I had this picture of yummy banana slices between layers of choc cake & choc cream. WRONG mental picture! Arrived on my table was a slice of banana cake (read: the very biasa punye kek pisang) covered with choc on the outside, served with whipped cream. How could my mind get it all mixed up and expected something from SecretReclpe! kecewa tau.

Did my grocery shopping on Friday. My flatmate complained that she was hungry minutes after we got to the mall & quenched our thirst with i-can't-remember-the-name-frappes. Told her I was not hungry but we'd stop by a sushi place anyway. Guess who ordered the biggest meal at sushi outlet? It was the girl who said she wasn't hungry that ate the most. *sigh*

I also had this cravings for lamb chops. Off went to halal butcher and bought the last few pieces of lamb chops they had and I turned them into these. Sedap hingga menjilat tulang.

soy & honey lamb + grilled veggies

I complaint of bloating & buncit yet still tak sedar diri, I keep on eating! Minutes before I write this I made peach pie & finished 2 huge slices in seconds... and while writing this, I finished a bag of kettlechips!

I received the following photo in my email (posting here without permission- I don't know who took the photo). Can someone tell me where I can find this cafe. A coffee addict should try all coffees, kan?

signing off,
UBI BULAT

those who live among us

I know that besides the five of us beings in our flat, there are ‘the others’ too. We have the ever diligent Spidey Inc. gang that spin new webs right after the old ones get destroyed. We have the uninvited Yuckannoying FlyNation members that visit us on warm days and night, many of them tragically end up in a splat after my flykiller flatmate went around hitting em with rolled travel brochures. Then we have the invisible smelly cat that visit us anytime we forget to shut our kitchen window. I’ve never seen it, have only heard the 'meows' & found paw prints on our white stove top.

We also had this other 'mystery flatmate’. He/she used to be active at night. I heard noises behind the fridge and stove.. and sometimes I heard kluk klak klekangggggg of sauce bottles being hit but everytime I checked, nothing there. I knew he was there but I thought things should be in control as we get visits from the cute pest control guys who come to check & replace those little blue traps in the flat regularly. I thought I'd never get to meet that 'mystery flatmate'.

Not until yesterday when I opened the front door and saw my flatmate running towards me as if she had seen a ghost with 12 heads.

Nah, the ‘ghost’ had only one single head… and he’s dead.

cause of death: unknown

Homicide or suicide?

*Thanks to MrSiam for helping to remove the dead body.

Now should I hire a resident cat?

.

G but G

best to describe me? hahaha... perasan gorgez, boleh?

the power is in your hand...

So did you vote?

I voted in the last two elections but not this year.

I spent the morning refreshing online news & poll results. Haiyah, so hard to stop reading & checking the results.

So the people hath spoken.

People want changes. We'll see how things go within the next 5 years.

Time to walk the talks, speeches & janji manis.


Ubi: Wishing that one day Malaysia election can manage without the zillion ugly posters that go to dumpster the day after. Membazir sangat2!

.

Oh, btw, I'm not surprised with the GE 2008 results. Kinda had 'premonition' that it would turn out almost that way (no matter whether I like it or not)... never knew that I have precog talent! lol.

.

Fine

8.15pm. While taking a break & browsing for non-work thingy, found my horoscope reading for today. It says:


A sweet comment from a loved one will leave you grinning from ear to ear all day.

*********************

How was my day?

There ain't no 'loved one'. Love is nowhere around and non-existent in my mind at the moment.

That 'once-upon-a-short-time-loved one' knocked on my office door just to say 'hi' at noon. No sweet comment and I did not hope to get any from him.

While I was tying my shoelace on my way back to office after a quick dash home to make nasi goreng lunch, MsRoxy shouted "Cantiknya hari ni.. nampak lain lah!" (You look pretty today... You look different!). Thanks. That must be my pink scarf. I don't usually wear pink.. and I don't usually look pretty.

PuppetMaster sent me a message on YM "Nasi goreng tu sedap. Thank you".

I guess I should be counting sweet comments from friends around me and not wait for 'loved one'. That 'loved one', may never be found.

I did not spend the day grinning from ear to ear, but not grumpy either.

The day was just fine.

Thanks girls, your words count.

.

dinner @home

Dah lama tak letak gambar home cooked food. Dulu-dulu (if you read my blog long enough) I used to takde keje lain but putting photos of dishes that I cooked. Truth be told, most of the photos tu I ambik pasal itu lah FIRST TIME I cooked those stuff. Excitednye lebih sikit lah kan when you notice that you can actually make something edible without the help of Pak Brahim, Pak Adabi & Auntie Maggi. These days, I hardly cook a decent meal nor I indulge myself in any culinary experiment, so no such excitement, unless if you can call instant noodle with egg as gourmet food.

My flatmates decided that we should have a dinner together last night. Just to have everyone sit & eat at dinner table at the same time, not yapping on the phone, not texting, not catching up with what's on tv while eating... Oh, they also made made it compulsory for everyone to wear pjs.

So the girls made these,

nachos

chips, steak, mash & veggies

choc caramel ice cream

I did not help in making any of the above,
I only prepared these after dinner.

Coffee with a dash of caramel syrup. Sweet!


so what did YOU have for dinner?

.