My Catastrophic Success

Great work...

2014-04-10T15:18:00.002+08:00

#reminder to myself
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

JK1M...my journey to fitness & wellness

2014-03-17T17:06:00.002+08:00

Every year I have resolution to lose weight, and every year I weighted more than the previous year huh! This year resolution is ....

It's sound more realistic, you agree? Positive mind is everything that's why it sits on top of the chart. What you think, you become. So, if I believe that I can be fit, and so I can! Truthfully, I one of many people that think to lose weight I must take diet pills. Gosh! There are alot out there, all sort of brand and all "gerenti kurus" !!! And these so-called "gerenti kurus" diet pills or supplement ain't cheap either!

My brother, Sam insist that I joined 6 weeks Jom Kurus 1 Malaysia (JK1M) program by Kevin Zahri, Malaysian fitness guru. I joined JK1M Season 1 which started on 11th January 2014 and ended on 22nd February 2014. After 6 weeks, I lose 7kg, with the intense training on every Saturday with our coach Saw and daily "Secret Weapon" exercise every day. No secret, no pills, just healthy diet and regular exercise. Amazing!

I met new people, new friends I must say. Well, I did met new people when I resigned from the previous company to recent one but meeting new people when we are at "play" is different than when we are at "work". I must say, it's a refreshing start for 2014 and wish for better days ahead. Thanks to JK1M Season 1 team, knowing you (most of you-lah) brighten my days, and the loyar buruk @ WhatsApp really makes me smile and laugh. Such unusual the way we met, but I cherish every moment.

JK1M Season 1 - Kuching Team

Who said exercising can't be fun? We have lots of fun even though the training can be strenuous that I won't be able to walk the next day. Duh!! Owhh that 2 cakes, I baked ;-).

I must admit, after the 6 weeks program, my aim is not about just losing weight but healthy lifestyle. Now the JK1M Season 2 starts (15th March 2014), lets Go Like Hell!!

Cintailah Rasulullah.....kerana baginda sangat menyayangi kita.

2012-02-11T16:53:00.008+08:00

Ustaz Don : Apa yang ada di dalam rumah kita SEKARANG yang mengingatkan kita kepada baginda Rasulullah? Apa? .....TIADA.....tiada
~ 30minit Ustaz Don - Cinta Rasul. ~

Sad but true...astagfirullah al azim.Ya Allah, dapatkah aku mencintai Rasulullah sepertimana baginda mencintaiku? :-(

Photo credit to iluvislam.com

One day housewife

2012-01-04T12:23:00.004+08:00

I'm on leave today and offically i am a housewife for a day. Today is the first day school for Aliff and Afran at Smart Reader and both of them crying when we leave huhuhu - kesian.

Aliff cry because of the new environment, previously he was at LBT Kindergarten. Aliff said he doesn't like the new school cause it looks ugly hehehe which i have to agree compared with his previos school. And no Walid (his bestfriend). I hope he can adapt fast and meet "other" Walid there.

Adek cry because today is the first day to school - he's not yet 3 years old. When we arrive he was actually excited, then when teacher holds his hand to go and meet friends and we bid goodbye - he cried his heart out huhuhu kesian :(

After that went to carwash cause my car soooo dirty. Aliff bite my little ~~lion~~ tiger and all the white thing burst out from the stomach. Kesian the ~~lion~~ tiger, apalah dosa dia to Aliff.

Then i went to buy some groceries. I have the list ready so that i did not buy other unnecessary items. But like always when i go shopping - always fail to follow the list. Like today, i'm suppose to buy cream cheese - i bought cream cheese and cheese cheddar. And instead of taking oregano from the rack, i took parsley flakes as well isk3x. Apart from that - i bought keropok lah hehehe - and all that were not stated in my list. Bad habit.

After this have to go out again for lunch. I didn't cook - lazy ahh. Afternoon i plan to bake cheesecake for my brother, then maybe bake butter bun for breakfast tomorrow. Cook for dinner. Pick up both my sons from school. Jogging at library. Wah so many things to do.

Not really a housewife job i may say, i'm suppose to mop the house, change the bedsheet and spring clean my library. I think all that can wait until tomorrow cause i have one more day leave yeayyyg

My New Year's Resolution

2011-12-30T12:03:00.004+08:00

1. Lose weight - hehehe every year also the same but never achieved. So, this year have to define the target of ??? kilos to lose.

2. Eat healthy - have to start eat more veggies and fruits.

3. No more credit card - really risky when you have credit card with limit of 100k especially when you treat it like cash. Really suicidal! So in other words have to spend within my means. NO Mulberry or Gucci bags unless I kena jackpot - which is highly unlikely hehehe

4. Exercise - gah! Mandatory things that i always put-off as secondary. Tsk3x.

5. Saving more money each month. So have to spend wisely! Which i never did all my life - always unwise!

I can have 1001 resolution listed, but lets just focus of these 5 for this year!

11.11.11 = Ambivalence

2011-11-11T15:09:00.001+08:00

I received a called from my boss secretary this morning - I will be transferred to HQ effective Monday, 14th November 2011. Today the date I want to remembered being feeling happy and sad at the same time - "ambivalence" a positive and negative feeling.

I've known for months that I will be transferred to HQ because I will be assigned with a new project - I'm actually looking forward for a new things to do - a promise of a new experience. But this fast? Gah! I was hoping these all be happening next year - you know, New Year = New things to do + New experience + New working environment bla bla bla :-)

I actually been hmmm reviewing the good and bad things about all this :

1. BAD No.1
I have to come to go to work early like 8:15am and back at 5:30pm whilst at site office, our office hours until 5:00pm only and coming to work wellll...after I have my breakfast (can't say what time - afraid my boss might be reading this hehehehe)

2. BAD No. 2

At HQ so many bosses whilst at site, I'm the boss (I mean I'm still coolie-lah, but because all the bosses at HQ, so I'm the boss here hehehehe)

3. BAD No. 3

I will not going to have my own room - don't dream-lah - managers (below GM) at HQ got partition only hehehe, whilst at site I have a room with a big space - I say bigger than our GM space hahaha. I love having a room, more private, comfortable, and hmmm...I just love having a room-lah.

4. The only GOOD things at HQ (apart of my new assignment) is that - I'm will not working on Saturday yeaaaa!!! Meaning can jalan-jalan on Saturday! Can spend more time with my dude and my 2 dudans. Meaning I can say TGIF!!hehehe...and that's all count. I feel good already!! (Really??)

Wokeyy, I'm ready for Monday - hope it will make a difference in my life (I mean good difference)

Stay Hungry Stay Foolish

2011-10-19T10:41:00.005+08:00

Inspiring speech by Steve Jobs - my favourite and well worth listening to.

(Check-out You Tube for the vc)

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

I think the best way to describe the meaning of Stay Hungry Stay Foolish is :

Stay Hungry

Always keep wanting something more, something new. Don't be too easily satisfied or grow too comfortable.

Stay Foolish

Always keep an open mind, never think that you know everything. Stay foolish and keep learning new things.

With that I wish to myself and the visitors of my blog - Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.

Pics and full text speech - credit to Google.

An engineer in the house?

2011-05-15T09:33:00.001+08:00

An engineer (that's me ahhh) haven't write a book (yet) but this doctor did! After the 3rd visit to MPH, I finally manage to get this book - "A Doctor In The House" yeyyyyy. I bought it last Saturday. You know this book selling like a hot cake and I have to ask the MPH staff to reserve it for me!

The doc in my office heh

I'm always a biggest fan of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. I follow his blog from the first day Tun enters the blogworld (at that time he was using blogspot...and blogspot.com suspended Tun account because they thought the blog was a spam - too many visitor per day!!) and now he's in facebook - even better!!

The first time I met him and his wife, I think it was10 years ago. I remembered being so excited and brag about it with my colleagues for a whole week hehehehe. He's soft spoken and so as Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah. When we met, he did most the talking cause I was...speachless...hehehehe.

Can't say much about the book now, just started reading and now at page 60 out of 843 pages hehehe...really slow...cause yesterday I spent the whole day reading "Dear John" by Nicolas Sparks (I read e-book for this novel) - like always when Sparks wrote - someone must die hishhhh. The day before that, I read Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas and The Lady Most Likely - a collaborative romance novel by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway. So you see...I've been busy :-) and I have to make time for my other passion as well - baking! I was suppose to bake macarons again after I fail on my last try..hu hu hu

Ice cream, keropok and kereta.....

2011-05-07T12:18:00.001+08:00

This is a story of my sons name Aliff Zarfan and Afran Zaquan

Normah - 2 weeks ago
Aliff Zafran
Dr. Alex : Aliff - no ice cream, no cold water, no keropok
Aliff : Ma, no keropok?
Me : Yes, no keropok.
Aliff : Kereta??
Me : No kereta
Aliff : Noo...no ice cream, no keropok - kereta boleh!
Me : (Bo-layan)

Normah - 1 week ago.

Afran Zaquan

Dr. Alex : Flu again? No...(didn't able to say the whole sentences hu hu hu cause adek says...)
Adek : Mintakk....mintak popok (keropok)
Dr. Alex : (Laughing) Ingat makan saja...
Me : (LOL - memalukan sungguh but he's cute - so it's acceptable hehehe)

Time flies and both of them growing so fast! I remember being so worried with Aliff cause at age of almost 3 years old he was really slow to talk. Was thinking there are something wrong and worst case is autism. Praise to Allah, it was just a false alarm. Now he can speak well (terlampau pandai actually).

At home (our normal conversation)

Aliff : Ma, no ice cream?
Me : No ice cream
Aliff : No keropok?
Me : No, no keropok
Aliff : Cola putih (meaning 100 plus)?
Me : Cola putih boleh
Aliff : Sa-yuy (Sayur = Vege) ?
Me : Sayur boleh
Aliff : Ayam (Fried chicken) boleh
Me : Boleh
Aliff : Kereta??
Me : (Usually at this point I pretend to think...then) No kereta.
Aliff :Ooooo....(think for a while...then)
Aliff : No ice cream, no kerepok, Sa-yuy boleh, Ayam boleh...(pause)....kereta??
Me : .^__^
Adek : Keta (kereta = car) ....(then)....mintak popok (saying it out loud!!!)

Hu hu hu......Adek latest obsession is car, to be precise - Mater - an old towing truck in Cars movie. He would watch it over and over again. He also remember the scene in those movies - like fire scene, before the fire appear...he would shout.......apiiiiiiiiiiiiii......

Adek Afran watching Cars movie

Mater - pic taken by Adek

What a Busy Day!

2011-03-05T14:39:00.000+08:00

Though I'm happy with my recent promotion and salary adjustment *wink*wink*wink*. But I have to work like no tomorrow - busy with the re-planning of the project (changes of plans and budget like overnight....uwaaaa!!) and my other project going to be kick-off soon hu hu hu. Tired wehhh, dah macam tak cukup tanah nak lari.

Red red red...everywhere

2011-02-07T17:26:00.001+08:00

I saw red everywhere I go, The Spring (like - no other shopping mall in Kuching?? duh!!) and even the road to my friend house have the red tanglung hanging on the street lighting post - nice, of course-lah, it's Chinese New Year!!

I went to my friend house on first day of CNY, whom of course wearing red colour blouse. But unfortunately I didn't get the red ang pow!! Obviously, I'm too old for that hu hu hu. I must say that my friend, Ms. Jong bake a really nice biscuits - small and cute!!! Cantik sangatttt - geramm tengok. After that I got motivated to bake a small and cute biscuits like her, which I didn't cause I decided to bake a red cake instead.

This is what I bake for CNY - Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Chinese believe red is an auspicious colour. I love red colour and I have red sofas at home :-). (Motif sangat nak bagitau...hehehehe)

I don't know why I've been putting-off baking Red Velvet Cake for so-long. Baking this cake is really a pleasure - very moist, nice texture, red red red... ;-). I say, this time I manage to smoothed the frosting - thanks to You Tube - great tips for cake deco etc. But the deco still need improvement (alot!!)- practice practice practice.

And ohh, I went visiting to one Chinese friend's house only. Only one!!! Me so terok ahh...hiasshhh!! Sorry to my other friends, not that I don't want to go, but with my 2 expensive Chanel handbags (my sons lah), can be really challenging! Plus the pouring rain all day, yada yada yada hehehe....Anyway, I wish all Happy Chinese New Year.

May this year of Rabbit bring you and your loved ones good health, fortune and prosperity.

PMS : NOW I know what it means!

2010-12-27T08:45:00.000+08:00

"Mom says it's because she has PMS.
Do you even know what that means?
"I'm not a little kid anymore. It means pissed-at- men syndrome"

Nicholas Sparks - The Last Song

What I want....

2010-11-22T12:03:00.002+08:00

1. Mulberry for Target

I'm actually eyeing for the large velvet satchel - black colour (exactly like the one in the pic - the one in the middle). Latest style from Mulberry for Target. Exclusive bag at a charming price (meaning I can afford it-lah hehehe). Big bag, can fit in 13" laptop :-).

2. Wilton Product

Cake Decorating Tools

Novelty Shaped Pans

(Topsy Turvy is one of it - got a lot of other design that I want)

3. ipad

Even when I want to buy all the above, I definitely can't duh!! Not all at one time though. I think (hopefully hehehe) my hb would say that I can choose either No. 1 or No. 2. No. 3 out of question - need to do saving like...few months! Tsk tsk tsk

Wrong! Money can buy all the things I want above and much moreeee!! Uwaaaa

P.Ramlee

2010-11-08T16:09:00.001+08:00

Did any of you watch P.Ramlee documentary on History Channel? I did, it's a heart-wrenching documentary. Little that I know about him except from his movie and his song. Amazing person he was...he just one of the kind!!

I was sad (and shock!!), that the Malaysia's one and only film icon died a poor man. At one point, I am angry with the Malaysian and our government then. P.Ramlee returned to Malaysia in 1964 - "back home in Malaysia". If you ask me - should he come back? I say no!!! Wrong step!!. Such a big name P.Ramlee was then, with his experience, he should have easily qualified for a bank loan to make film. Nayyyy, not in Malaysia ya!! - it is the "know who" that counts not "know how". It's how Malaysia then - and it's how we are now. (At least that how it is in the construction industry I'm in now - maybe (I hope) it differ to other industries.)

Because of that P.Ramlee unable to fulfill his dream to make a colour film!! The documentary brutally exposes how P.Ramlee tried in vain to set up P.Ramlee Productions, but was again shut by Malaysia's media and entertainment industry including RTM. Dang!!! We (Malaysian) managed to belittle him, crushed his passion and broke his spirit!. His downfall was painful to watch. Shame on us!! He died on 29th May 1973, aged 44 due to massive heart attack.

Bak kata Sasterawan Negara, Datuk A. Samad Said...kita terlalu terhutang kepadanya.... :-(

For those who haven't watch the documentary, please do. I'm sure History Channel - Astro Channel 555 will have a playback on P.Ramlee documentary.

Al-fatihah to P.Ramlee. May Allah Bless You. Amin.

Outstanding N3 - Aliff Zafran is 4!!

2010-11-08T11:16:00.003+08:00

28th October 2010 - Aliff Zafran's Birthday.

Aliff Zafran is 4 and at this moment, he is the biggest fan of Transformers. I guess by now, everybody knows that already. So, for his birthday, I decided to make a Birthday cake for him :-). I'm not an expert when comes to birthday cakes though especially the decoration and writing part - total failure. Heheh.

This is the first cake I bake for Aliff Bday. Frosted with buttercream and the Bumbblebee pic is edible ink printed. See the wording...yikes, soo amateur hehehe. This is the cake he bring to school to celebrate with friends. Despite the imperfection of the cake, Aliff is happy & kinda proud of it because, hey, it's Bumbblebee's Cake okey!! :-)

I was on leave on 27th because Aliff was sick - sick on his Birthday as well - kesian!!. Aliff as usual, attentively watching Tranformers movie that day, so I decided to bake another birthday cake. Mainly because the 1st cake looks so ugly hehehe, I cannot smoothed the buttecream - see the yellowish sugar, I spread it on the buttecream to hide the unnecessary :-D - some sort of make-up lah hehehe.

This 2nd birthday cake, I'm using fondant. Making fondant is like making the bread dough. If you do not have a heavy duty mixer like Kenwood or KitchenAid, I advise you never try the fondant! Duh! Unlike buttercream, it's much easier to smoothed the fondant, like playing with plastercine when we were kids - roll, colour, shape etc whatever we like.The difference is that we can eat fondant cause it made from icing sugar among other things. But, honestly, I would never eat fondant - looks beautiful but not the taste.

All smiles - from left, Abang Izzat, Abang Aliff & Adek Arfan

This is how the cake looks like when I slice it. Originally, I wanted to make 7 layer of bright colour cake like rainbow colour but then I decided to make 4 colours only - too time consuming and I haven't eaten the whole day!! The base recipe is a cake flavoured with lemon, layered with a little raspberry jam. For this cake, I'm using Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours - Best Party Cake (how true!!) recipe.

My sister doesn't want to eat the cake, she said it's too beautiful to eat -ceh! That's the dilemma I face when I bake cakes, save for Adek (Arfan) everyone else in my family ate a little portion of cake only. So, the rest of the cake - I sedekah to our Surau - hope they like it! And oh, I did cut-off the fondant part - if I don't eat it and dislike the taste, I wouldn't want other people to eat it as well :-).

......lucky chap

2010-10-11T10:33:00.000+08:00

My boss is promoted as Head of Construction effective 15th October 2010. CONGRATS!! Yeah...I should be happy right? Cause he is moving one step forward in his career. Yes, I am happy for him but I'm sad at the same time cause, well maybe...just maybe.... I have to report duty to other manager hu hu hu...

Boss, even though u are "up' there, don't forget to look "down" once a while.....remember me ya boss...hehehehe.

It's not as if he's reading my blog anyway....

Note : I never called him "boss", I called him by his first name hehehehe...

Rant warning : why very few things make sense to me right now.

2010-10-07T16:36:00.001+08:00

I don't know why, but recently I (and other PM involve in construction) received e-mails from the HQ. Annoying prttthhhhh!! Something goes like these....

All projects must be on schedule, those projects that are behind schedule shall be reprimanded effective 30 November 2010.

Please be informed that the E-Dairy shall be implemented immediately. Warning will be issued for non compliance with the E-Dairy reporting format.

Can't they choose the words carefully rather than being so harsh? So many negativity - not good okay!! It's like you telling your child - if you pee on your pants, I'm going to kill you! Daaaa...

Well hello??? What happened if our project ahead of schedule?? My previous project was 1 year ahead schedule - what did the project team get?? NADA....NOTHING.....ELEK..... choyy sangat okay!! Didn't even get the appreciation note from the management!! I guess nobody appreciate it. Like - it is your job so do it, otherwise - then watch your back!!

We have project presentation - discussion about project status, causes of delay bla bla bla this week - to be exact on Saturday and Sunday!! My oh my...of all the days, they choose to do it on weekend. Hmmpphhh......tsk..tsk..tsk...

Don't really want to think about this weekend, makes me turn sour! Hu hu hu...I bet the so-called brainstorming will be too long, too wordy, too redundant and too far fetched!! Am I overrating? Understandable lah ehhh.....

Owhh yeahh, last night I bake Blueberry Cheese Tart. Basically, it's my stress therapy. Sometimes, Il bake when I'm not really feel happy. At that time I'm not happy with the e-mails and this coming weekend...duh!!

Tadaaa...Blueberry Cheese Tart. Sedap ooooo

Takes me hours to make it. Not as easy as I think at first but it worth my time, makes 70 nos last night. Give some to my nieces & nephew and my brother, the rest to our Surau. Hope they all like it.Last night, we end-up having dinner at 9:30pm - or should I called it supper? Hehehehe..really sorry to my other half. He's grumpy when his stomach empty. Tonight I promise we'll have an early dinner...say at 7:00pm? :-)

Power comes with great responsibility

2010-10-05T10:26:00.000+08:00

Only those who truly sincere and capable can bring greater changes and benefits to the rakyat.

With power come great responsibility. If one has the power, but does not know how to use wisely, it's going to be a waste, and it will badly affect the people who have given their trust and confidence with the hope foe better future.

There is no such thing as guaranteed peace or prosperity unless we work for it.

Speech by our Chief Minister Pehin Seri Abdul Taib.

------------------------------

The title catch my attention, because I remember those words were said over and over again on TV during Hari Raya. For those who have nothing to do other than sitting in front of the TV during Hari Raya, your would realize that the Spiderman movie was played on TV like uh...everyday??? hu hu hu...

"With great power comes great responsibility" - that's what Peter Parker's (Spiderman) grandfather said before he died.

POWER - Some have it, some don't have it. Some crave for it, some lose it.

But if you do have Power like....

POWER RANGERS

you can fight the raksasa!! Yeehaaa...

The only power I have is Kasut Power - famous when I was in high school.

And I would very much like to have PowerBook - so that I can become a computer hacker and hack any bank in Malaysia without a trace and become filthy rich like Lisbeth in The Girl With The Dragoon Tattoo.

Above all, I think I must drink POWER ROOT

so that I can become JUTAWAN.

"Terima kasih Power Root"

P/S : Do you know that Susan Boyle declared that she had never been kiss?? I think - maybe she want to be kissed in a football field like Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed? And to be kissed by David Arquette!! Oh my oh my....

Lotus is back!!!

2010-10-01T16:42:00.000+08:00

Pic credit to Paris 2010 : Lotus Elan Concept

Lotus is back, proton bila lagi??

Soo free wehhh??

2010-09-28T16:18:00.001+08:00

Lightning McQueen from the movie cars - was Aliff favourite movie once a upon a time.

I thought its Ben 10 - but it's written there BEM 10. Maybe just the language difference.

Abang (Aliff) = Bumblebee :-)

Adek (Arfan) = ELMO?? hehehe

I'm not soo free - got lots of works pending and things to follow-up but I've been delaying things like...2 weeks now huh. No specific reason just - well you can called it Raya mood syndrome. :-) It's still Syawal anyway, no cakes though - I give away all the cakes to the "needy" hehehe. Anyway cool frame, agree? For those who like these frame you can go to FRAMETOY. For those who doesn't - well - duduk diam2.

I guess it's not too late to wish all my friends - Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. Maaf Zahir Batin.

Aliff & Bumblebee

2010-08-16T16:43:00.002+08:00

Do any of you know Bumblebee? Well, let me tell you something about Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a small Autobot with the altmode of a compact car. Often the underdog, Bumblebee is known as the younger brother of the Autobots. A bit of a wise-cracker, he is a capable and reliable messenger and spy. If he's not an autobot, he form to Chevrolet Camaro. Before this Bumblebee was a yellow Volkswagen Beetle and Bumblebee was known as the close ally of the humans, especially to Spike Witwicky. Bumblebee motto is "The least likely can be the most dangerous." The modified Bumblebee that is the Chevrolet Camaro and a good friend of Sam Witwicky, who is the boyfriend of Makeila Banes (star by Megan Fox..she's beautiful hu hu hu). By the end of the movie, he chose to stay on Earth with Sam.

Why do I seem to know "everything" about Bumblebee? Becauseeeeee I have been watching Transformers movie like 24/7 these days. My son, Aliff Zafran is a huge fan of Bumblebee. He has like hmm...3 nos of Bumblebee autobot - Made-In-China, bought from Sunday Market cost RM15 each. FYI, all have have been broken into pieces.

Made-In-China Bumblebee.

Pic was taken by an amateur photographer, Aliff Zafran himself :-)

Last couple of weeks, he bought a new Bumblebee, an original one, cost me RM65. Phewww! Now his new Bumblebee cannot stand up properly - some missing parts, I think it's Bumblebee's feet.You see, I'm highlighting Bumblebee in orange because Aliff now like orange colour, if you want him to take a shower, show him orange T-shirt, that will do the trick. However, he is forever a fan of red colour.

The one that he's touching is his new Bumblebee. See his T-Shirt, also Transformers!!

Pic credit to my brother. Taken using his Blackberry Curve hu hu hu

Last night he saw his old Bumblebee picture, and he said "Tolong ambik". How can we take Bumblebee which is a picture? Of course I said, cannot because this is a picture. So, he cried! He is such a crybaby when he can't have what he want....hu hu hu hu. One of his character that annoy me. I told him I will buy a new one. He still crying, maybe he didn't understand what I said or he just like to cry.

So, I ignored him. He sleep with tears at 10pm. At 12am, he was talking in his sleep and said "Ambik Bumblebee, ambik Bumblebee" At 2:30am he was talking in his sleep again and said "Ambik Bumblebee, beli battery" So today I decide to buy him a new Bumblebee, no not because I pity him or whatsoever, it because I need my beauty sleep. Mind you, I need to wake up early at 4:30 am for Sahur.

I was hoping to buy a Made-In-China Bumblebee. Original one very expensive wehhh. Unfortunately, couldn't find Made-In-China Bumblebee cause I was looking for Bumblebee at Wonder Toys, The Spring hehehe, so I bought this, cost me RM47 (after 10% discount because I am a member).

I actually have an eye for the bigger Bumblebee, but it cost RM299 - can move & talk!! But, after a few second thinking, well its not worth it. For a kid like Aliff, as long as it's Bumblebee - original or Made-In-China doesn't make any different. Personally, I think better buy Made-In-China Bumblebee because it can move around and turn to autobot and vice versa automatically and has music like.....na ni na ni na (don't know what), you out of my way, I'm leaving in paradise...hehehehehe

Aliff and his new Bumblebee, smile smile smile...
Hello Bumblebee

Ramadhan datang lagi....

2010-08-10T15:37:00.003+08:00

Ramadhan datang lagi...alhamdulillah, I thank Allah for allowing me to live another Ramadhan, insyaallah and pray I have another next year :-).

What I love about Ramadhan?

1. No evil spirit or ghost roaming during Ramadhan

Remember when I was a kid (even when I am a grown up now huh!!), I'm afraid of ghost. So when Ramadhan came, we can go out at night, any time (save for Maghrib - it's still a no No NO...Ramadhan or not!) and play without feeling scared at all cause when Ramadhan starts, all hantus will go back to hell...hehehe

2. Food

Hu hu hu....with bazaar Ramadhan just nearby our neighbourhood, it's the best time to try all sort of food...anytime also the best time to try all sort of food-lah but Ramadhan is the best of the best. With all the tasty delicacies available...hmm...yummy yummy. Ahh...and Ramadhan buffet. Last week, I went to Holiday Inn and saw a pamphlet on "MACAM-MACAM ADA" Mega Buffet...gah! I can't wait!!!

3. Succulent dates

Need I say more? You can't find something like these on normal day, or maybe you can but a dried dates, with not many choices.

4. The call to prayer sounds better

The muezzin sings the call to prayer from the mosque. Yeah it's a familiar sounds to most of us but hmmm...I don’t know why it sounds better during Ramadan. Is the muezzin trying harder because it’s such a special month? :-)

5. It ends with a holiday!!
Eid Al Fitr!! What is there not to love about? :-)

Anyway, to all my friends and Muslims around the world, who read my blog (as if ... hehehe), I wish...

Happy Ramadhan

May Your Patience and Strength Take You Closer to Allah.

A memo from Senator Arnold Schwarzenegger to California State Assembly

2010-05-19T21:44:00.001+08:00

I-F-U-C-K-Y-O-U message -was it coincidental?

Muahahahaha .... creative. Stay Classy, Arnie!!

Between works, play and keeping my mouth shut

2010-05-12T11:46:00.000+08:00

I always believe in work hard, play harder and keep my mouth shut (in the office). But recently I found out that it was so difficult to keep my mouth shut because suddenly I become a very important person in this organization and need to do alot of talking - at one time have to yell to be heard. WOW! ha ha ha....seriously its not cool anymore!

I like to be in "invisible" mode - ever since I given birth to my first son, my priority is not work anymore. However, last week my boss taken a long leave for holiday, when he's back, our department head has assigned him to other project. That means...arghhhhhhhh....I have to take over all his job until the new manager report duty which is not so soon! The worst part is, its like to do or die (read : resign) task. Personally, I know I can do the job (BRAVO!!..hehehe - angkat bakul sendiri), but I'm hmmm....unenthusiastic to deal with the top management team. For example, I hate last minute task (our RM always do this!!!) and I hate long and dragging meeting which end up with no decision at all - and that's several hours of my life that I'll never get back!! Grrr...

Oh well, always positive ya (telling to myself) - Verily, with hardship, there is relief. Who knows, the company will increase my salary twice (as if). Oh! I want to mark today's date as my 2nd week SMSes to Datuk MD and another 5 VVIManager on our progress at site and being so-call "acting" manager with no allowance at all. Talk about foolhardiness...duh!!

Anyway, see pictures below...these makes me happy despite of the hu ha thingy happened recently.

Parcel from Kinokuniya!! I actually wanted to purchase Steig Larsson's 3rd book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest and accidently bought other 2 books by Suzaanne Collins :-). That what I called impulse purchase!! And I've done alot of that - most of the time! Bad habit! No good for my lean purse :-)

About Larsson's 3rd and last book - Gah! I feel bereft. I know all good things must end but WOW! I will miss having one more of these books to look forward to. The characters are fascinating, the story-telling is top notch, the details is interesting and relevant. It was so well-plotted!

Ladies and Gentlemen...announcement ya :-D....even if this isn't your normal genre, I highly recommend this series!!!

Oh! My Hermes Birkin

2010-04-21T11:21:00.001+08:00

Oh okay, it's not my Hermes Birkin - this beautiful white Hermes Birkin handbag belongs to Lady Gaga. Seriously Gaga, why do you ruin this lovely bag with a Japanese-language message on it?? Grrrrr....

I'm not Lady Gaga's "little monsters" (a.k.a her fans) but I do love Hermes Birkin handbags. Can't afford it at this moment but....hmmm...but maybe one day, when I become "Datin" and have all the money in the world, I will definitely buy the Hermes Birkin handbag - the most expensive one and not even Victoria Beckham have that collection!!!! Muahaha...keep dreaming!! If you people out there don't know yet, Victoria Beckham owns 100 Hermes Birkin bags worth more than $2 million altogether. Cool ehh??

Oh by the way, the message on the bag loosely translates to "I love small monster. Tokyo love."