Awat yang lama sangat

Bila kita masuk public toilet kat shopping mall, perasan atau tidak biasanya yang tercokoh diluar kawasan toilet tu seolah-olah menunggu seseorang biasanya lelaki. Tak kira lah pakwe-pakwe ke, laki orang ke, atau bapak budak pun sama. Mungkin ini yang biasa berlaku...

Itu belum masuk betul2 tudung, touch-up make-up, pakai itu-ini dan lain-lain lagi.

Jangan marah naa.... ;)

: : Tolong jangan lupa basuh tangan lepas keluar tandas yer.

No Talent but I like it

I am sure most of us have at least a little passion towards music. Different people loves different music. However not everybody can play musical instrument.

I  love music. My sister can play organ very well, and the songs she played somehow imprinted in my head, and it brings sweet childhood memory whenever I listened to those songs again. From what I was told, my father used to play saxophone when he was very young. I am not sure why and when, my grandfather gave away my father's saxophone to someone when he went for training in the army. Haha, there must be some unrevealed secret that the younger generations in the family didn't know. Tak sempat nak tanya kat tok wan dulu.

As for me, I have no talent whatsoever in playing musical instruments. My parents sent me to organ class when I was in primary school. After 2-3 weeks I stopped. Alasan: cikgu cenge (garang). The real thing was my brain could not comprehend all those 'taugeh' (the notes) and compute them to my finger. I can play a few songs, but without reading the notes. Just by listening, then try it. That's why during the class I could play quite well, but during the test, when she gave me a new set of 'taugeh', I couldn't play. Haha... But my passion towards music never fade.

Gamelan is a type of musical performance, featuring a variety of instruments including xylophone, flute, gong, gendang and others. The first time I came into live contact with gamelan, I was a student living in KTDI (now KTSN). I was one of the facilitator during the orientation week, and they let me handle the 'kesenian and kebudayaan' things. So one of the activities the new students must do was gamelan performance. I don't know a thing besides enjoying the music, so there was someone there to coach them.

Indeed, I think gamelan has its own mystical factors as some other traditional musics, and it should be preserved. I am always amazed by the players' coordination and their movements of hands. I enjoyed the sound and music, be it the slow traditional songs, and especially when they perform contemporary musics...

I can't sit still listening to this music, the feel must be different if watching it live. Are they missing the angklung?

: : I have no objection at all for musical performance, provided they adhere to the code of adab.

Ke Mana Saya

Minggu lepas masa agak padat. Tiga hari berbengkel di Putrajaya. Kali pertama masuk ke Putrajaya International Convention Centre, PICC. Memang besar, tapi macam underutilized. Jadi sesiapa yang ada banyak duit nak buat kenduri kahwin anak ke, sendiri punya ke, memang sesuai lah tempat ni. 

Di sini lah saya berbengkel selama 3 hari.

Hari pertama hampir semua meja penuh. Hari-hari seterusnya kelihatan beberapa kumpulan yang ahlinya semakin pupus.The lunches served were superb, tea break was so-so lah. I have lost count how many servings of coffee (coffee flavoured milk) I had.
 

 

Saujana mata memandang: Pandangan ke hadapan, daripada main entrance PICC. Udara kita ni tak pernah nya nak betul2 clear.

Pada hari kedua, saya sendiri terpaksa menghilangkan diri dari workshop. Bukan pergi merayau, walaupun teringin jugak nak explore area Putrajaya ni. Sebaliknya, melunaskan komitmen yang telah saya berikan terlebih dahulu daripada bengkel tersebut. Saya menuju puncak.

Thank you for having me. Kalau tak memang tak tersampai lah ke puncak ni.

Saya keluar awal dari Putrajaya menuju ke Puncak Alam, sebab takut tersesat. Study lah google map patblas kali pun, bila dah on the road, akan jadi lain. Rasanya sebab saya tak jumpa Lebuhraya Baru Lembah Kelang, seperti yang tertulis kat dalam google map, walaupun sebenarnya saya dah nampak signboard NKVE (New Klang Valley Expressway). Otak tak compute barangkali. Selepas puas perpusing-pusing akhirnya sampai juga, alhamdulillah.

FSK 6: Bangunan yang saya tuju. Ada lebihkurang dari 20 tingkat.

Walaupun campus ini is like in the middle of nowhere, tetapi bangunan-bangunannya kelihatan moden dan space saving. Not too architectural like I am used to. Seusai urusan di sini, saya terus kembali menuju ke PICC.





Di mana saya tinggal?



Pernah dengar Puspanita Puri? Di situlah saya berehat selama dua malam. Ianya merupakan tempat latihan Puspanita, bilik pun tidaklah banyak kerana itu bukan tujuan utama tempat ini dibuat. Bila tiada program berjalan, maka bilik-bilik tersebut disewakan. Bilik yang selesa dan lengkap dengan kemudahan asas. Tapi makanan tidak disediakan. Jadi merayaplah saya ke Alamanda untuk makan malam, itu aje tempat makan yang saya tahu di sini.

Selesa dan menjimatkan.

Ke mana lagi saya singgah?


Ke Masjid Sultan Mizan. Waktu itu sudah petang amat, selepas bengkel hari kedua tamat. Hujan dan cuaca amat mendung, jadi gambar pun tak berapa cun, sementelah saya hanya bawa kamera point-and-shoot aje.

Kubah dari dalam ruang solat utama masjid.

Masjid ini memang besar, dengan kolam air di sekelilingnya yang silap-silap kalau tak perasan boleh terjatuh kedalamnya. The view around the mosque was excellent too.



On the way balik selepas tamat bengkel hari ke tiga, saya singgah pula ke Kementerian Pelajaran, bertemu dengan mak uda saya for some business. After that, off to meet my family in Gombak.

Telur Pirate

Hati-hati membeli telur. Zaman la ni banyak barang tiruan, sampai telur pun ada yang ori ada yang pirate copy. Baguslah kegiatan ini terbongkar, orang ramai akan lebih berhati-hati lepas ni.

Pegawai yang pakai vest M. Nasir tu kawan sekolah saya, masuk paper dia semalam.

Telur merupakan sumber protein lengkap. Masa sekolah rendah dulu setiap hari mak saya akan bagi half-boiled-egg masa sarapan. Tak pernah pulak dengar orang kecoh pasal jenis2 telur. Zaman la ni ramai manusia yang health conscious. Bagus lah gitu, tapi pengeluar makanan yang naughty akan ambil kesempatan. Itu yang wujud macam2 jenis pilihan untuk satu2 jenis makanan tu; organic food, added value, low cholesterol dan sebagainya. Walhal tak lah berbeza sangat.

Kalau kita ke pasaraya sekarang ni, macam-macam jenis telur ada. Yang murah, yang mahal. Telur organik. Freshest from farm. Added vitamin. Segala mak nenek jenis telur. Nak pilih yang mana?

Telur pun ada yang racist juga?

::Depa kata orang lelaki tak boleh mandi laut lama-lama, nanti dapat telur masin...

Update: Additional Info on fake vs. real eggs.

 Kita tunggu confirmation analysis dari Jabatan Kimia nanti.

The Jam That I Love

I used to live in KL for more than five years during my days as a university student. I never ever like the traffic - unpredictably jam packed most of the time.

Nevertheless, for people who have sweet tooth like me, bread and a spread of jam is something you need when the craving comes, but there's nothing like chocolate cakes, puddings, seri muka, tepung talam and whatnot is available at home.

Does high-sugar foods lead to diabetes? Well, directly, not. However, too much of sugar will eventually make you fat. These extra fat cells will then affect your body's hormones including insulin efficiency. That's why obesity is one of the risk factors for getting diabetes. If I'm not wrong, about 80% of diabetic patients are obese. On the other hand, not all obese people will have diabetic. Normal people still have chance to become diabetic, even the skinny one.  These explain that the real cause of diabetes is still uncertain - we only know the risk and contributing factors.

OK, enough on that scientific-academic debate. What I want to share about is this healthier choice of jam we always had. Everybody knows fruit jam is packed with load of sugars. So choosing one containing the least sugar, but still maintain the sweetness of a jam should have, is my priority.

St. Dalfour selections of fruit jam.

It claims to use all-natural ingredients, with at least 50% fruits, no added sugar, and suitable for diabetic. Because it is French made, some people may think I am not supporting Malaysian products . Just like chocolate, I've tried many brands, and normally it will have SUGAR as the main ingredient, plus colouring and flavouring. Just imagine, some kaya (also one of my favourite) also they put coloring in, and the texture was like gum. 

Look at the real fruits - this one is blackberry. They have strawberry, peach, blueberry and many more.

: : best jugak melayan lite.fm tengah2 malam buta ni.