Maid of Honour? Pengapit? Whatever you call it lah!

Sorry for the long hiatus. I am saying sorry to myself as I'm probably the only one aware of the existence of this blog anyway.

So, fast forward to the recent month, I entered the professional world. Yeay! After years of studying, I finally get to work as an adult, though it is a bit later than others of the same age. Alhamdulillah. Better late than never, right? The feeling? I am still adapting to the world full of competition among colleagues, in healthy way I mean. Not that I need to betray anyone or even use my own small fist to climb the ladder. I am cool, okay? Haha. Still trying to love my current job. 

Back to my headline of post, I'll be ranting about my recent duties as Maid of Honour, in other word, the best woman (does the term even exist?), both to my primary school's friends. One thing I will say here is I am suck at this. I cannot tolerate on the etiquette of being the 'manager' to the bride though. It is just not my style. With those makcik-makcik's looks and stares lagi, urghhhhhh. So, I'll summarise my findings and hope if anyone happen to read this, please convey the message to the society, especially the bride and the makcik.

1. Never wear skirts or dresses or veils with length further than your feet unless you don't mind to get them dirty.

OMG. This one should have OMG emphasis. My plain mind just don't understand how these makcik-makcik think. Are you aware that I'm holding the umbrella or even the kipas? So if I am holding both, how do you expect me to pegang that extra length of kain? Hell NO. I am pretty sure the skirt/dress/veil is made to such length to sweep the floor. It supposes to get dirty, okay? Kalau tak nak kotor, pengantin, please jangan pakai kain meleret. It is clearly not your pengapit's duty to take care of your kain. Dah siapa suruh pakai kain meleret. Kan susah nak jalan. Plus, the rombongan yang mengiringi pengantin ketika bertandang, kalau dah nampak pengantin berbaju meleret jalan, tak payah la nak himpit rapat. Grrrrrr. Kang terpijak, salah siapa? Pengapit jugak sebab nanti makcik-makcik akan cakap, "Kenapa pengapit tak jaga kain pengantin?" Grrrrrr. Salah aku pulak la pengapit nak tersadung. Pengantin yang pakai kot. Maybe korang rasa macam aku ni pengapit useless, okay I take the blame. I won't blame my bride. But, please la masyarakat, get the fact right, okay? Those kain meleret bukanlah untuk dipegang oleh orang lain. Kain tu layak menyapu lantai. Tapi, kalau dah nampak tahi lembu, tak payah nak sapu jugak. Angkat la. Solution paling simple, designer tak payah buat kain meleret (tak boleh pon kan sebenarnya dalam agama), pengantin pon tak payah nak mengada pakai yang meleret tu. Tak kuasa okay nak jaga kain untuk korang sebab nak tutup mulut makcik-makcik yang extra risau korang tersadung bagai sebab kain tu orang pijak or kotor, okay?

2. Tuan rumah pon layak duduk di meja pengantin lebih-lebih lagi yang memang buat satu majlis je

Okay, get the focus here 'lebih-lebih lagi yang memang buat satu majlis je'.  Dah kalau satu majlis je, matter pulak tuan rumah tak boleh makan sekali dengan pengantin masa sesi makan beradab? Gila apa? It is the memory that shall be created with both parties kot. Bukan selalu anak tu kahwin and makan beradab. Tak kan la tuan rumah tak boleh join? Mak bapak kot. And please la family member pengantin, just to ease the ceremony, could you just cooperate with the liaison personnel to go to the high table in case you are invited? Tak payah la cakap "tak kan akak kot?" Grrrr. Who are you at the first place? Kakak pengantin kot. Dah ada extra seat, makan je la. Susah sangat eh? You know, masa bertandang ke rumah pihak lelaki ataupun bersanding di rumah perempuan, both parents are eligible to sit at the high table. If tuan rumah memang insist and cakap siap-siap from the start (ni yang memang dah manage properly and ikut style masing-masing) tak nak makan beradab di rumah sendiri, then fine lah. Mak cik pak cik yang lain, tolong jangan bising eh? Tak kan la tolong jaga booth kat entrance majlis untuk setengah jam pon nak berkira? Kata adik-beradik. Kerjasama la sikit.

3. Pergi bergambar bila orang dah ajak mula-mula

Kalau ikut trend majlis kahwin zaman sekarang, selalunya ada DJ. Kalau tak de DJ, someone must be there to assist on this matter. Orang dah ajak kot awal-awal, jom pergi bergambar kat pelamin, pak cik mak cik dekk je kan? Lepas tu bila dah ramai nak ambil gambar pengantin, pak cik mak cik kena tunggu, tahu pulak nak marah. Sampai tiga kali buat announcement panggil merenjis dan bergambar kot? Oh please la, nak buat muka pulak sebab kena tunggu eh? Orang dah ajak awal kot. Nasib baik la saya jumpa pak cik mak cik sekali tu je. Lepas tu, tuan rumah pon tolong take turn and know your priority in treating pihak yang bertandang please? Dah tahu tuan ruamh, tak payah la nak ambil gambar dulu dengan pengantin. They are at your place kot, nanti lepas sesi fotografi dengan yang bertandang selesai, tadah la muka sampai lebam dengan pengantin. Apa? Sebab takut nak tinggal entrance lama-lama? Then, cepat-cepat la ambil gambar. Tak payah la time tu la baru nak cari saudara mara yang duduk dekat khemah masak, dalam rumah etc etc. Aih.... Tak faham.

4. Tell your pengapit where should she stand

Okay, yang ni memang salah aku 100%. Al maklumlah tak de experience. Blur memanjang. You know, dulu-dulu kerusi pengantin dekat pelamin macam satu-satu, and ada space la kat tepi untuk pengapit berdiri. As in, it is clear that pengapit can stand next to bride and groom. But, as the trend and design evolves from time to time, kerusi pengantin sekarang ada yang jenis the long curve bench, and I HATE it.  Where on earth do you expect me to stand and kipas you? Dah kata curvy, tak kan la pengapit nak berdiri depan pengantin. In my personal opinion, rasa macam cacat je. So dah jadi serba salah dah. Diri jauh nanti tak boleh kipas pengantin, dah panas. Nak diri dekat, takut mengganggu frame pulak. Aiseyh...

Walau apa pon perancangan anda, make it simple. Jangan complicated sangat. Pak cik mak cik jangan  nak meriah sangat mulut tu nak bising-bising. Dengar dek orang macam saya yang sangat fragile ni, terus hilang mood. Apa-apa pon, selamat dah dua orang kawan kahwin... Aku? Chill je la. Nanti sampai la masanya kalau memang dah tertulis di Luh Mahfuz. Gitu.... 

Plastik

Sebesar besar industri pembedahan plastik di Korea Selatan, at least jarang drama mereka cerita pasal wanita bertukar wajah. Cerita bertukar wajah ini lebih sinonim dengan drama Filipino seperti yang sedang ditayangkan di Tv3 sekarang. Ini bukanlah kali pertama cerita yang melibatkan wanita bertukar wajah menerusi pembedahan plastik yang pertama ditayangkan di Tv3, sudah ada satu yang mempunyai jalan cerita yang lebih kurang sama pernah ditayangkan. Apa yang sama? Merebut cinta seorang lelaki/perempuan. LOL.

And that becomes another wonder on me. If you guys watch drama pukul 7 yang sedang hangat ditayangkan dalam bulan Ramadhan kali ini, anda boleh lihat dari episode 1 sampailah sekarang, the hero macam meroyan cinta heroin. The same script is repeated every single episode.

"Mama tau kan macam mana Ian sayang kat Mia"

"Kau tau kan betapa aku sayang dekat Mia tu."

And the expression of his memang sama. Berkerut. Mengamuk. Meroyan sebab heroin reject cinta dia. Macam tak de benda lain la nak difikir. Rimas gila tengok weh. Dah la dengan rambut karat lagi. Tak kacak pon lelaki or perempuan rambut karat macam tu la.

Recently, I read on a post on Facebook and agreed on individu itu menegur pasal konsep drama melayu yang ditayangkan di televisyen tempatan, tentang cinta hero heroin yang muda (konon-konon baru balik oversea, terus pakai kereta mewah pergi kerja sebab mak bapak kaya berair). Macam... Semua budak oversea kaya ke weh? Mana ada. Come on la producers. Buat cerita rakyat marhaen yang hidup sederhana secara realistik boleh tak? Ceritalah pasal bagaimana pemuda-pemudi Malaysia ni struggle baru nak start hidup dewasa, nak kahwin, nak beranak, nak jaga anak etc. You know, when you portray these scenarios and add as well some tips on how we, as the nation can actually improve our wellbeings based on those advices/tips/examples shown on tv. Baru lah macam berguna sikit drama tu, konon-konon macam menambah nilai yang positif which may affect the citizen. Negara maju, pemikiran updated, bertambah makmur la Malaysia. Tak nak gitu?

Hurm... Despite my rant, aku tetap jugak lah yang tercongok depan tv tu ha, menengok yang entah apa-apa tu. Lepas tu mengomel sendiri.

Teringat zaman kegemilangan cerita Rashid Sibir yang seringkali memaparkan kisah kehidupan family miskin di kampung, kisah anak tanggang dan sebagainya. Cerita lagenda Tan Sri P Ramlee pon sangat banyak menyelitkan unsur sindiran kepada yang hanya memandang darjat, memaparkan nasihat serta pengajaran yang baik dalam setiap karyanya. Tidakkah beliau meninggalkan banyak contoh tentang karya yang ringkas tapi padat dengan pengajaran? Kenapa pengkarya masa kini tidak menggunakan konsep yang sama?

Jadi, jangan salahkan penonton lebih gemar menonton korean drama dari malay drama sendiri. At least, some of the dramas ada idea yang realistik seperti Pinocchio (realiti khabar berita yang sebenarnya ditokok tambah), City Hunter (rasuah dan politik) etc. Yang fantasi sangat tu tak payah la cerita. Ambil yang matang je.

Kepada stesen televisyen, amatlah wajar jika anda demand cerita yang lebih bermanfaat kepada producers. Jangan sebab nak popular je, tangkap muat cerita novel melayu yang penuh fantasi cinta tu jadi drama. Rimas aihhh... Macam tak da keja lain. Dok cinta orang kaya, nanti ada bimbo dan dumbo dengki mendengki, lepas tu akhirnya kahwin. Plus, buang-buang lah cerita hero rogol heroin, jadi baik, lepas tu kahwin dengan heroin. Duhhhh...

Tolong eh? Saya sayang Malaysia, kenapa tidak anda?

Happiness of a boarding school girl

Haaaaa, tell me, what are the things that make you happy when you live in a hostel.

My first answer is, A VISITOR!

Since my time in UTP, I received a few visits from friends. Ida, Me'e, Top and today En Firdaus!.
Yeayyyyy! I was so happy that I treated him like a friend despite our age difference and status. He is my manager that is responsible of my well being at Schlumberger office. We were not that close at the office because I was a bit shy being myself that talk too much nonsense. So, while being at the office, I just speak whenever needed. I restrict myself for being too chatty because I understand where I am at.

But, as for today, when I just finished ranting on my viva performance to my friends, I received a call from En Firdaus. And, I became that 'gedik' girl that people hated. (laughing). I even asked him to come and visit me at the hostel with an ice cream treat in return. Actually, I just wanted to share my excitement about finishing the  presentation. Although, I had disappointed myself for not being able to perform at my best (my friend said I was too perfectionist that I always felt insufficient for everything), I just tried to let everything go. After all, things had happened and what I need to do now is pray and tawakkal. The presence of a visitor has always me good feeling to be cheerful at least for a few days. (laughing). So, people, do come and visit me later whenever you are free, okay? Although my time here in UTP is almost over, just pay me a visit whenever you are around me, okay? Hihi.

We are not 'katak bawah tempurung'

It does not feel complete if you live in Perak but never go to Gua Tempurung. My friend once said, it was in her wish list to go caving in Gua Tempurung which is famously known as the biggest cave in Peninsular Malaysia. How true the fact is, just google it online. From Pak Cik Salleh, the displacement of of the cave is 1.9km. BUT, that is not the distance you are going to walk through in the cave, since you will be climbing up and down the stairs to get to the checkpoints, and the net distance will be more than 1.9km. Oh, please look up for difference between distance and displacement if you want to know more. LOL

We had been planning for this expedition for several days. But, it turned out that I was the one who had less courage to continue. The morning we supposed to depart to the cave, I was being childish, whining and ranting as I did not want to go. I felt that I would be a burden to anyone else if I did not have that fitness to continue the expedition. When we finally decided to change the activity to ride on a banana boat at Teluk Batik, I changed my mind again to go to Gua Tempurung instead, after I finished taking shower. 

It took half an hour to arrive at Gua Tempurung from Seri Iskandar. When we arrived, there were two other groups of five waited at the entrance. When we wanted to buy the tickets for Route 3, the receptionist said,

Only route 4 could depart now. If you insist to proceed on route 3, you have to wait for others to come. 

Just imagine the next drama that turned up after that statement.

Are we really going in with Route 4? We just barely decided to come here. And, now we wanted to do the extreme one directly?

Fortunately, we managed to buy times to decide since one of us answered her nature call. LOL. The tour guide talked to us that we would be okay with route 4 as he would take us at our pace. Did I get convinced? Not yet. As soon as the friend returned, then we decided to buy the tickets. It costed us RM 30 per person, and RM5 per torch light. 

We went in and followed the trail. The cave is dark (obviously), but could have been brighter if the maintenance is top-notch. The tour guide, Pak Cik Salleh explained briefly about the 400 millions years-aged cave history and some remarks. He pointed to some of unique shapes on the rock caves that are similar to heart, cow, elephant, and even a pregnant lady. But, it is up to our perspective to see that though. One may see the shape similar, one may not even agree on that. Art is subjective and it is up to individual's judgement. As we walked through, we tried to relate our poor knowledge from geology classes. Obviously, none of us had forgotten some of the rock's names and was talking nonsense based on our own interpretation. (laughing)

We crawled in the water, met a cave frog, arrived at the other end of the cave, sledged from a great height of rocks, jumped into a pore, etc etc. We had good times in there, thanked to the great companion. The boys were sporting, we took photos together and shared the thrill and excitements while being in the expedition. And, I did not expect that I met group mate from Projek Kalsom 17. It had been a while since we last met.

I survived the expedition safely with no injury. I only had two small bruises on my knee as I crawled on the clastic sedimentary rocks in the river. The experience is truly unforgettable. If you ask me to do it once more, I may say yes but I may say no at the end. (laughing). It depends on my fickle mood. 

Nothing is free and easy in this world

I was blog walking and came across this story. The guy traded an amount of money in binary trading bank and the initial sum multiplied exponentially in a week. I was like how could this be true? The guy just drank coffee while money-making. Then I searched through the website about the bank and saw some news mentioning its service discontinuation. Why? Basically, it is just a betting on the commodity price. If it goes up, you win. If it goes down, you lose. So, what is better term to acknowledge this? Lottery.

Betting with money is not allowed in the religion. Logically, if you are depending on uncertainty, if you lose, you will lose badly. Some may have gone crazy. Some may have not.

The addiction to this happen when you are at winning. The tendency to become greedy is there if the reward is huge. You are going to repeat the betting, hoping that you will get richer next.

However, all of this is wrong, even if you think logically. How can you obtain an expensive items without even working on it? Even the conservation of mass principle state that mass in equals to mass out. So, whatever effort you put should be rewarded equally. That is how the norms work. Even if you want to eat, you have to open your mouth and chew the food. The feeling of getting full can only be realised when the food reach your stomach. So, nothing is magical in the real world. Only Allah is the Most Capable.

Inner conflict

I bet I really am in denial to go shower and work on my thesis tonight. Just finished watching two episodes of 'Return of Superman' and I had enough entertainment tonight. 

It is 2016, and I am really excited to end the MSc programme soon. I wonder what my life is going to progress next. Will I be working? Or... Will I be furthering studies to PHD level, I am not sure. But, just now, in the evening, Dr Fadzil said, the Dr title is not really something to be proud of, really. It shows that people have the trust on you to carry out the research on your own later. At least, you can guide someone else towards achieving better improvement or solution to problems in your field area. When I think of that thought, I don't know if I have that ability. After all, taking up responsibilities is really a big commitment that requires your energy. I don't know what has been planned for me by Him in near future. What I can say now is I really want to finish my thesis and whatsoever and think about other things later.

World issue has been scarier nowadays. Divorce rate among young couple, zika virus, political and economical instability all over the world, these are a few things that makes me wonder more of what I really want in life. 

Haram vape tapi rokok? 1.0

Tak faham dah orang kat dunia ni berfikir macam mana. Cakap, salah. Tak cakap pon salah. 

Lately ni cerita kat berita semuanya berkisarkan cerita pembunuhan dan vape. Now tengah musim orang tembak-tembak. Senang terus mati. Tak payah bayar bil hospital or menjalani kehidupan cacat kan? I think thats how pembunuh think la kot. Sigh... Ingat nyawa manusia boleh treat macam nyamuk ke? Tak kena kat hati ko sikit, terus bunuh. Abes, kalau bunuh, ko dapat apa? Apa pon tak dapat except hati yang tak tenang.

Vape? Tadi ada pakcik NGO marah-marah kementerian rampas nikotin berperisa yang dijual tanpa lesen ke apa ntah. Beriyer pak cik tu marah "kasi can la orang melayu meniaga?" mehh... Dah kenapa? Kot orang melayu jual dadah pon nak tolong ke? Tak faham dah. On the other side, dah kenapa bila vape ni baru nak heboh-heboh. Rokok conventional yang dah lama gila jual tu tak nak pulak rampas? Tak kan sebab pengeluar rokok bayar tax banyak, ko rasa terhutang budi, so bila pengeluar rokok bising pasal vape, ko pon tak kasi jual nikotin flavour? Okay, not that aku sokong rokok or vape, tapi pelaksanaan undang-undang untuk kedua-dua isu ni macam tak parallel. Both are completely useless kot (though ada orang kata vape tu alternative yang sihat berbanding rokok). Jin je makan asap weh. Yang ko pon nk telan asap dah kenapa. Nak flavour, p order air kat kedai la. Semua flavour ada. Tak sedap? P pasar, beli buah, potong sendiri or blend buat jus sendiri.

Haihhh. Nanti orang cakap, susah la nak berhenti. Ye, aku tak pernah merokok and tak tahu sengsara korang yang susah nak berhenti. Tapi, still, if you are aware of the harm, kenapa buat lagi? Nak seribu daya, tak nak seribu dalih kan? (betul ke tak peribahasa aku ni). 

Seriously, tak mampu dah tengok masyarakat suka 'jerebu' ni. Indah agaknya dunia korang ni tengok asap dimana-mana kan. Tau tak asap vape yg korang kata bau fruity sgt tu pon busuk jugak (though slightly less busuk la dari rokok biasa). 

Senang cerita, tak yah vape, tak yah rokok. G tanam pokok buah belakang rumah, nanti dah berbuah, anak bini pon sihat makan sama-sama. Ni kalau vape ke rokok ke, anak bini korang jugak yang sakit. Sakit apa? Sakit sebab 'merokok' jugak and sakit penat jaga korang bila korang sakit akibat rokok kelak. Tak payah nak cakap korang tak sakit now ke apa. Kalau lah korang willing to disect your chest, tengok la paru-paru korang tu. 

Yang melaksanakan undang-undang pon, jangan sebab nak lobi undi belia muda yang in trend dgn vape ni korg kata vape ni tak bahaya. Kuasa tu kalau ada, guna dengan betul la. Bukan ke jalan songsang. I am afraid of our nation's future. Entah HD, entah kabur macam tengok tv tanpa antena. 

This issue will be endless. Forever and ever sampai la each and one of us, tak kira pangkat dan pekerjaan, aware of bahaya rokok dan e-rokok ni. Nak kata pendidikan awal di sekolah or iklan di media massa tak buat? Dah buat dah. Semuanya bergantung pada hati individu itu sendiri. Tak semua bole jadi baik. Manusia tu tak sempurna kan sifatnya. Tapi kalau semua sentiasa niat untuk merubah ke arah kebaikan, inshaAllah ada pembaharuan.

Haram vape tapi rokok? 2.0

Hari tu dekat facebook dah berceloteh dah pasal vape. Kali ni pon nak jugak membebel again.

Majlis Fatwa Terengganu decided cakap vape tu haram. So kerajaan negeri pon digesa untuk menggubal undang-undang baru dalam pengharaman urusniaga vape. Sudahnya, pengusaha vape akan diberi tempoh 6 bulan untuk gulung tikar dan berusaha mencari alternative perniagaan yang lain. Salah satu usaha kerajaan negeri Terengganu yang bakal diberi kepada pengusaha vape sekarang ialah perniagaan di digital mall yang akan dibangunkan di Terengganu. Alhamdulillah at least mereka boleh bersiap sedia from now untuk menceburkan diri dalam bentuk perniagaan yang lain. Syabas negeri Terengganu for that initiative.

Akan tetapi, wonder jugak, kenapa tindakan tegas ini tidak dibuat pada penjual conventional cigarette. Kalau tak silap, fatwa kata rokok haram memang dah lama ada, tapi kenapa penjualan rokok ini unbanned? Kalau tindakan tegas ke atas vape ni bole di apply ke atas rokok, tak ke macam selamat sikit udara Malaysia ni? Hurm... Rasanya, tak bankrupt lah Malaysia kalau tak terima masuk import tembakau ni. And tak bankrupt lah kedai mamak or kedai 7 eleven kalau tak jual rokok. Lol.