Tsunami 2004

So where were you on that unfortunate day? As for me, it was Christmas Day in 2004 and I was alone at home, all the others had gone abroad for the holidays. Later approaching midnight, I was ironing clothes in my room at my apartment in Villa Putera Condominium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [end 2005 I left Villa Putera for a new home somewhere else].

The TV was on, with special Christmas Day programmes. Suddenly I felt dizzy, I looked up, I thought I was concentrating too much on the iron board that I felt dizzy, but I became dizzier and nearly fell down. I sat down on the bed, to calm myself.."Oh God, please dont let me have any High Blood Pressure or Diabetes!", I chanted in my heart. Then I saw my window curtain swaying left and right, but the window was not opened, then I saw the wall swaying..it was quite obvious. I began to worry..

I could hear footsteps outside..I looked out the window downwards, I saw people running out of the condominium`s compound. Now..this must be serious. As I was wearing a nightie, I changed into jeans and t-shirt, grab my handphone and handbag and headed out. I called my mom first and told her that if anything happen, and if she had to identify me, please look out for somebody wearing a dark blue t-shirt. As I was speaking to my mom, she suddenly said that there was movement in her apartment in Bukit Jalil too. So I said, hell lets get out of the house immediately.

I went straight to the staircases, and to my surprise there were so many people already in the staircase trying to escape. There was a couple, I could see the lady trembling until she became weak, that her husband had to carry her down. I ran fourteen flight down the stairs to the ground level and made it across the road. Almost everybody were out of the building. All of us kept looking up, as if waiting whether the building will fall down or not. Some took off in cars and motorcycles. After an hour or so, we were allowed to go into the building but were advised to be alert of any other movement.

I went up to my apartment, and saw in the news that an earthquake with a big magnitude occured in the Indian Ocean, following which the Tsunami happened and killed so many people. ACEH the land of my mother`s origin was terribly hit. I was so sad..230,000 of my people were killed and 500,000 left homeless.

Theatrical Experiences

My first ever real theatre experience was in 1994, watching "Malam Ini Penyu Menangis" at Panggung Eksperimen Negara, Kompleks Budaya Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The leading actor was Sofea Jane, directed by Noordin Hassan, based on a poem by J.M.Aziz titled "Penyu Menangis". I went with my buddy Lin. At one point, some of the actors got off the stage and went towards the audience with their scary face expressions and body movements. As both of us were sitting quite isolated from the other audiences, one actor headed towards us, we were so frightened, we hugged each other, closed our eyes and shouted like hell. I guess they have succeeded in conveying the message through their acting. It was a good show.

Then in 1997, I watched "Phantom of the Opera" and "Beauty and the Beast" in London, United Kingdom. I love both equally, and wouldnt mind watching them all over again.


>>Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty`s Theatre<<


>>Beauty and the Beast, Dominion Theatre<<

On my other visits to London after that, I did not watch any other theatre. Most of my time there were then spent on working, relaxing, travelling, people-watching, shopping and window-shopping.

Back in Malaysia, in December 2003, I managed to watch the Riverdance Show in Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur. The Irish dance troupe was fantastic!


And finally in May 2004, I went to Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur for the first time, to watch Saturday Night Fever The Musical. It was a reminiscence of my school days obsession..the discomania.


When I was in secondary school, I watched Saturday Night Fever the movie with my friends, then everyday onwards what we talked about were the dance steps, John Travolta, his booty, his chest, his style of walking..urgh! Every weekend we would stay-back in school after our Girl Guides meeting, closed all the classroom`s door and practiced the Saturday Night Fever dance steps. Then on Sundays, my group of crazy friends would organize parties and the songs played were all from the movie soundtrack, songs by The Bee Gees. Argh..those were the lovely, crazy, fun and most enjoyable times of my life!

The Scariest of all..

Of all the frightening experiences I had..one was the scariest (to me), I felt so scared I had to run!

It was my most recent experience, happened in 2009. I had to attend a meeting held in Penang because the project we were handling was situated on the Island. There were six of us, we came separately from different locations, and were to meet at the venue of the meeting, held at an old and quite established hotel, which was actually just in the vicinity of our project.

I flew alone from Kuala Lumpur, reached Penang in the afternoon, checked into the hotel and met the others, then had a long meeting there. Later at night me and my room-mate had a lovely dinner together at the hotel itself. We were so tired, we opted to stay in.

I was sleeping soundly when suddenly I was awakened by a loud noise beside me..I woke up to find my room-mate shouting loudly as if asking for help. Then my room-mate got up and told me, “I had a terrible dream. There was a woman holding a baby boy. They were crying and asking for help. There was fire around them!!” Believe me or not..I had the same dream!!! We began to feel nervous. I was extra scared because I was having my period and could not do any praying. (Normally once I have checked into a hotel room, I will do my prayers, so that I will feel calm.)

After going to the toilet, my room-mate then resumed sleeping. I tried to sleep but could not. I kept hearing the sound of a musical box playing on and on...I was so sure I was not imagining things. I sat up on the bed and tried to listen carefully, it was the sound of a musical box and I was not dreaming. Suddenly I heard a few knocks on the sliding door at the balcony on my right. I looked at my watch, it was 4.00 am. I dared not look at the sliding door, luckily we had the curtains down. Then I heard footsteps in the corridor outside my door on the left, I heard something being dragged. Could it be the chambermaid and her housekeeping trolley? But it was 4.00 am, and I don’t think anybody will be doing any housekeeping at that hour! Out of curiosity, I went to peep at the door peephole.. there were nothing outside! I ran back to my bed, covered myself in the blanket, shut my eyes tightly and tried to go back to sleep, I managed to survive until sunrise.

The story did not end there. We went for breakfast and met the other four guys from our team. Suddenly one of the guys started it all back..he said, “You guys want to know something? Last night I was alone in my room, watching TV, suddenly I saw a woman walked passed me in my room. I was wondering how come this woman can walked in my room.” Another guy said, “Are you crazy or what? Was your door closed or opened?” He answered, “Closed lah! That was why I am wondering up till now, how??” Alamak! Another guy said he heard some knocks on the sliding door and actually saw a figure standing outside the sliding door at his balcony. He was so scared, so he just closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep. The other one heard some footsteps in the corridor and another guy had a terrible scary dream that he could not remember. Now..all of us had been disturbed in quite the same way. Was it a coincidence or something really happened there at the hotel? Why didn’t it happen to the other hotel guests, or maybe we simply didn’t know? If IT only disturbed us, WHY us? Was it because Something didn’t like us, because we are developing the surrounding site? Were there really a woman and a boy, maybe they died in a fire at the hotel, or near the hotel? Did they committed suicide? So many questions were in our mind when we walked back to our rooms and prepared to check-out and leave for KL..

To make matters worst for me, I was the only one who had to stay on until noon, while the other five were going back earlier immediately after breakfast. After my room-mate left, I started to pack all my things. Suddenly all the stories from my colleagues about the happenings last night and my own scary experience, emerged in my mind. I started to feel cold and an eerie feeling all over me. I felt goose bumps in my neck, behind my ears and my hands shivered..I was so scared, I felt as if someone was watching me, I dared not look around or up. I kept my eyes down, focussing on my packing. I was actually shivering..

Once I finished tucking everything into my bag, I pulled it over to the door, grabbed my handbag and got out of the room. I was not even able to stand a moment at the corridor, I felt as if something was breathing at the back of my neck, I was so scared, I actually ran along the corridor to the lifts lobby. It was only almost 11.00 am and I quickly checked out of the hotel, and went straight to the airport.

I swear I will never ever set foot in that hotel ever again, not even if someone pay me a big amount to do so. I am so sorry I could not reveal the name of the hotel here in this post, but if you guys really need to know, send me a message. Please give the hotel a fair chance, the occurrences might not happen to you. Maybe the ghost just didn’t seem to like us, or maybe on that particular night, she had a bad mood! hehehe..

Saya Sayang Mak Saya!

Saya sayang mak saya sebab...

1. dia mak saya, dia sentiasa mendoakan saya dan doanya mujarab

2. saya lahir ke dunia ini kerana dia

3. saya telah duduk di dalam perutnya selama sembilan bulan

4. dia bersabung nyawa melahirkan saya

5. dia buat segala-galanya untuk saya

6. makanan best sentiasa!

- semasa saya kecil mak sentiasa memasakkan makanan yang sedap-sedap dan berkualiti untuk saya

- mak memastikan hanya isi ikan yang berwarna putih dan daging ayam bahagian isi sahaja untuk saya

- mak selalu menggaulkan nasi lembut dengan kicap dan butter serta isi ikan goreng, mengepal-ngepalkannya dan menyuapkan saya dan adik saya, sambil kami bersenang-lenang bermain kejar-kejar atau mengayuh basikal

- kentang dadu goreng dengan telur yang mak buat adalah yang paling sedap di dunia

- mak sentiasa menyediakan telur separuh masak dengan kicap dan lada sulah yang paling syiok di dunia, setiap pagi setiap tahun mulai saya darjah satu hingga tingkatan lima, tak pernah miss

- mak sentiasa siapkan air milo, air teh dan air kopi serta air masak berteko-teko, berjag-jag dan bertermos-termos untuk kami sekeluarga, rumah kami tak pernah putus dengan air minuman

- mak akan bangun dari tidur walaupun pukul tiga pagi, jika salah seorang dari kami menyebut saja perkataan lapar, dalam masa lima minit saja mak boleh siapkan nasi goreng telur dengan bawang putih yang wow!

- masakan tersohor mak yang tidak mungkin dapat ditandingi oleh orang lain mengikut citarasa kami adalah laksa johor, sambal tumis, gulai ikan pari, ayam goreng kicap dan hati lembu masak kicap

- mak kalau goreng telur mata lembu, telur dadar (omelette) dan telur hancur (scramble egg) pun sedap, dah tu kejap gila dah siap..

- mak punya roti celup telur (french toast) top of the pop!

7. mak punya fashion sense memang tip-top!

- masa saya kecil mak akan beli kain dan design sendiri fesyen baju lalu hantar tailor. Mak siap lukis fesyen baju yang dia nak tu atas kertas dan tunjuk kat tailor. Selalunya fesyen-fesyen terkini, sebab dia rajin beli majalah, buat scrap-book dan kemudian improvised design-design yang ada tu..

- sampai sekarang pun kalau no idea, bawak saja mak pegi shopping dan suruh dia pilihkan color or fashion, selalu saja dapat pujian kalau pakai baju-baju yang mak pilihkan..

- dulu-dulu masa baru-baru kerja, kalau nak ambil mak punya baju ke mekap ke, ambik je, pakai. Tak payah mintak, tak pulang pun takpa, mak kata dia lagi suka tengok orang suka pakai baju dia..baiknya mak..saayaang mak!

8. mak sebagai best friend!

- mak akan sentiasa sedia mendengar apa yang kami nak cakap. Walaupun kalau dia dah mengantuk, dan kami cakap, “mak..dengarlah ni..”, mak akan cuba besarkan mata dia dan kata, “ya, ya, apa dia..ceritalah..”

- cakaplah apa saja dengan mak, sama ada nak berangan gila-gila atau tak berapa confident nak buat sesuatu..cakap aje dengan mak, “mak..boleh tak mak? mak ingat boleh ke? takpe ke?” Mak akan jawab, “boleh aja..asal ada usaha, apasal pulak tak boleh!”

- kalau geram dengan orang lain, ngadu ngan mak. Kalau rasa ada orang dengki, cuba aniaya, atau mengata..ngadu kat mak. Nanti mak cakap, “biasalah..orang hebat, mesti ada orang dengki. So sabar aje. Tuhan bagi dugaan pun dia timbang-timbang kekuatan kita, kalau kita kena dugaan kuat tu, maknanya kita insan terpilih, yang lebih kuat dari orang lain..” hmm..

9. mak baik hati!

- mak akan sentiasa menolong, bukan saja kami, tapi juga orang lain yang dalam kesusahan. Mak pernah tolong gadis yang termengandung, beri tumpang kepada remaja yang terbiar, beri tumpang anak yatim-piatu, kucing yang cedera, walaupun pada saat-saat kami sendiri dalam kesusahan

- mak pernah kena hina, kena kata, umpat keji dengan saudara sendiri, ipar-duai sendiri kerana buruk sangka dan busuk hati mereka, tapi mak tetap sabar, mak kata “biarlah..tuhan tahu siapa kita..”

- mak sanggup buat dan redah apa saja untuk kami. fuhh..takkan ada orang lain yang akan buat begitu untuk kami di dunia ini. Sebab itu, saya akan teruskan tradisi itu. Saya akan lakukan apa saja untuk adik saya dan keluarga saya. Apa saja..

10. mak sentiasa ambil berat!

- sampai sekarang pun mak akan sentiasa ambil tahu di mana kami berada, setiap malam sebelum dia tidur. Dan kami pun akan pastikan mak mesti tahu kami di mana. Kalau kami bagitau mak..jangan bagitau orang kami di mana..mak akan simpan rahsia tersebut. Dijamin!

Sayangnya saya pada mak, setiap penghujung solat pasti ada doa untuk mak, dan saya akan pastikan selagi mak hidup, kami tidak akan tinggal berjauhan, saya akan bawa mak ke mana saja saya tinggal. My mum and my brother are coming with me, anywhere my family and I live.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO EVERYBODY..
appreciate your mum while she is still around..

Close Encounter with the Unusual Kind..

I once worked on contract with one government agency in Kuala Lumpur, under their Property Department. I was the officer in charge of the building maintenance, in other word, unofficially I was the Building Manager. I had a team of cleaning contractor, landscape contractor, security guards, maintenance contractor, besides the in-house security guards, lifts attendants, maintenance crew, technical crew, administration staffs and a list of suppliers and contractors under my wings.

Although my working hours were actually from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm, my routines normally started early in the morning and ended around 9.00 pm. I also had to come when there were emergencies at the building, sometimes I had to work during the weekend when major repairs needed to be done and when some events were held in the building. At that time, my life was my work and my work was my life. My pager was with me everywhere I go.
One night during a weekend, my pager was beeping, and the call was from my chargeman. He said it was raining heavily in town, and that our building was flooded. The crew were going to shut-down all the flood-gates at the basement parking and he wanted me to be around. So I dressed myself in jeans and sports jacket, and rushed myself to the building. My technical assistant, Mazlin was already there with the maintenance crew. We hurried to Basement 2, it was lighted dimly, the rain became heavier, and gushing in like a waterfall into the basement area. We started closing all the flood-gates.

Once the flood-gates were closed, the basement became dimmer, and quieter. I looked around to see if any of the cars there were damaged. There were only a few cars around. Suddenly my eyes caught a figure standing on the stairs watching us. I thought he was one of our crew, then I noticed he had a totally different uniform. He was wearing an oversized shorts and shirt, like those worn by the people from the Japanese invasion era, and he had a rifle in his hand and he was also wearing a hat. He looked like an army or police from those old days. I was so scared, I couldn’t move an inch. I whispered to Mazlin, she turned around and saw him too, she said, “Askar zaman Jepun mana pulak ni, biar betul! (Japanese army, you must be joking!)” Then we tried to get our chargeman who was standing a little bit further from us, to come nearer and have a look at the man standing around 80 meters away from us. He came nearer and when we told him and he turned around to look, the soldier just disappeared into thin air.

Our maintenance crew and security guards went to search for the man in every corner of the building, but he couldn’t be found. We were puzzled because, as the flood-gates were downed (closed), the whole building was in total locked-up position, and all the main doors and entrances to the building were closed and guarded by our security men. So where did he came from, and where did he disappeared?