Zazamazu Playhouse

Kelas kopi

2012-01-31T18:49:00.001+08:00

Last time I mention the misses signed me up for a barista class, well I finally got around doing it. It was fantastic and I gained a lot from it. Learned all the basics, covered the theory and had plenty of practice. Here are some stuff I think is worth sharing.

- Arabica beans have better flavor but robusta beans are stronger and last longer
- don't buy beans from supermarkets instead get them at the roasters themselves
- the darker (more time roasted) the less caffeine cause burned away.
- fridging grind coffee doesn't really help. Just in air tight containers and not too warm. Don't store too long.
- extraction time of 20-30 secs is ur target to get great espresso
- quantity,Tamping and grinding effects extraction time
- milk choices and right temperature of 60-70. Has to start cold and not reused and proper frothing technic.

There's a lot more but ull get bored reading. So here are some photos from my class

And here are some examples that I inspire to create

Ps.. The only problem is its actually hard to practice what I learn from the class at home especially in the setup and the COSTTT!!

Once upon a time in NZ

2012-01-29T07:20:00.000+08:00

I woke up at 3 o' clock. I went on an Aeroplane. I stayed on for 3 hours.I and my family got a motorhome and went to Pakiri beach on my first day.

The day when she started baking

2012-01-09T21:03:00.000+08:00

Yummy in my tummy

One day all of the sudden the wifey said she wanted to make cup cakes. (well i kinda persuaded her - saying I want to do it) but I guess she wanted to take over. Be my guess. It went perfectly. It tasted great and looked beautiful. Pass the "ultimate kids test" with flying colours. Hope its first from many to come.

Cafe Zazamazu

2012-01-07T20:49:00.000+08:00

Salute

Coffee with cupcake

Monster maker

Making coffee with the new espresso machine

We recently redeemed our credit card point and treated ourselves with the Breville espresso machine. I love it very much and thought it was a great idea. The misses love the fact that she gets a the fresh made coffee with love whenever she wants (yup.. takde initiative nak belajar... nak order je tahu).

Not trying to sound like Melburnian snobs, but we really do love our coffee and some cafes aren't good enough. Although I'm still learning to make the perfect cup of coffee, i'd rather make it myself than pay $4-5 for somebody else to mess it up.

It takes a lot of trial and error especially with the coffee beans and milk choices vs. the flavours you want. Skill and understanding of the coffee making process is fascinating to me. It takes a while to learn but I'm enjoying it. The misses even enrolled me in a barista short course. Haven't gone to it yet but I'm getting her hint. She keeps complaining that my coffee is too weak.

So here's to life long affair to coffee addiction.... Salute!!

Zara is 4 today!!

2012-01-05T20:27:00.001+08:00

Princess Zara the birthday girl. Posing with her crown and party hat.

Dora cake. Really yummy

Birthday girl leading the party

Waiting for the cake

Giving a speech?

With lovely Shiri

Cup cakes as birthday cakes - love the belgian chocolate

Birthdays- the day full of happiness, cake, wrapping paper and sugar high kids

Its Zara's Bday today. She turned 4. How lucky we are to have her in our lives. We love her with all our hearts. Happy Birthday Zara. May Allah bless you have put you among those He loves.

HAPPYYYY BIRTHDAYY ZARAAAA!!!!!

Super duper mega ultra Classico

2011-12-08T17:27:00.001+08:00

No more excuses, no more mind games, no more media antics, no more dobbing to Uefa/fifa/League/ ur momma, no more thrash talking, no more whinging, no more poking eyes, no more spitting in front of the bench, no more conspiracy theory, no more political influence, no more pigs head, no more cock and bull, no more #ucking around...

Lets get it on!!!!!!

Cherry Picking

2011-12-06T17:56:00.000+08:00

Last weekend we had an outing to Cherry Heaven in Wandin. It was great. The kids enjoyed it and the misses and myself ate our bellies full. Before that day I always thought cherries tasted like cough medicine (thanks to the artificial cherries on most cakes). Thanks Hanim/Wanzaw for changing my perception. Now I know it taste better and crunchier than grapes. Tak muak lak tu. Layaaannn!!!! Recommended if you want to have a relaxing non stop cherry eating day. Lastly a little tip they shared with us... don't pull the cherry but instead twist it until it falls out so that other cherries can grow on the same stem.

warning: too many cherries may cause multiple visits to the Dunny.

Zareef and Lucy B

2011-12-05T17:43:00.001+08:00

Zareef and Lucy B. Always playing and having good fun together

Ayah: do u like Lucy?
Zareef: yes.. But she embarrass me..
Ayah: why?
Zareef: she calls me 'sweetie pie'
Ayah: do u like being called that
Zareef: no.... Emm yes... But not in front of everyone

Innocent lah konon

2011-11-18T09:13:00.001+08:00

Buat innocent and cute lah konon!

Ayah: ZAAAARRAAAAA!! don't hit your brother.
Zara: Nooo... I wasn't hitting abg, I just wanted to touch his face with my bag.

Posing untuk ayah please

2011-11-02T18:24:00.000+08:00

Zareef Melbourne boy model

I have recently concluded that I should up my skills in photography especially editing. It is a good hobby especially with the wifey into scrapping and the kids love to pose (on most occasion). Currently learning to use apple Aperture 3 (photoshop the next step) instead of my iPhoto. Went to the iPhoto session at an Apple store and found out that iPhoto don't do well on library more than 10000 pics. Hence the migration (yes we have thousands and thousands of pics). It was also easy to change cause of the "consolidating masters" tool aperture has. Wish me luck with this!... if all goes well I might be more active with our flickr account.

Zara our sweet sweet baby

2011-10-31T18:12:00.000+08:00

I just wanted to share this picture.. I think its cute...

Zara.. Messy lahhh

2011-10-29T18:06:00.000+08:00

Ayah: Zaraaa... why is ur room messy... bla bla bla nagging naggginnnggg... da da da daaa.... Why don't u put ur toys away in the proper place...
Zara: Becaaauuuseeeeee... they are hiding... its their hiding place.

Pandai pulak menjawab Zara sekarang ni. Sampai bila nak hiding.. ni dah hari kedua dah !!

Hiding konon!

Sakit tangan?.. hopefully not anymore

2011-10-17T10:51:00.000+08:00

Ergonomic Mouse

When you fly desk as much as we do either at home or at the office, you tend to get the hand cramps from handling the mouse too much. We thought it would be wise to invest in an Ergonomic Mouse just to reduce the pain. The wifey had already started using the trackball mouse (Loigitech M570) at work and she thinks its wonderful. So we got the exact one just because we know it works for her. As long it works for the misses it should be fine (I have to get a new one if not)... me and the kids just have to adapt (start the kids young to learn to adapt).

Its been a few days now. We love it. I took a while to get use to it. Still want to keep lifting the mouse when you can just roll the ball to move the cursor. On the other hand Zareef had no problems at all (Zara doesnt care all that much yet). I showed Zareef a few moves he was keen and learned it... no worries.

After a few hours later while we was doing something I saw him adjusting the volume just by using the mouse (no cursor movement). I thought that was impressive because it took me a while to figure that one out. Happy to know we can learn from each other. Anyways... I hope from now on we wouldnt have anymore cramps.. Insyallah.

ps..Oh yeah the misses wants to buy another desk to get the right Ergonomic height.

Zareef words of wisdom

2011-10-14T17:53:00.000+08:00

Zareefs self made tabung and his prized toy.

Zareef: Ayaahhh... Can i buy beyblade (the new kids craze - macam gasing je)
Ayah: You always want me to buy you something!! (start being angry)
Zareef: No... Can i buy it myself. Using my piggy bank money. I have to learn to get my own stuff. So I cant just want stuff.

Made my day hearing that. Really happy to know how he thinks about getting something. to top it off he wanted to go home first to get the money but i said its ok ill pay first. First thing when he got home he ran to his piggy bank and took out the money he owed me. May Allah preserve and protect his sincere heart. Amin

Yes OZ is expensive but not always

2011-10-13T10:45:00.001+08:00

Although I'm determined that things in OZ is ridiculously overpriced. But on the rare sale occasion you can find the odd Gem or two. A good example is Myer and Apple. Myer is the main Retail store in OZ and known for being dearer (expensive) but maintains its quality. Apple rarely does discounts and are very strict on pricing towards its distributor.

So comparing the 11inch 4GB ram 128GB Flash HDD Macbook Air is a very precise indicator. Myer sells it for AUD1249, Apple OZ AUD1349 and Apple US ~ AUD1199. At first glance you might think the US Apple store is cheaper but do not forget to include its Sale Tax around 6-8% based on state. Which comes about AUD1290 roughly. While in Oz the final price is final. Dont worry the tax is still there, included in the price. No way your gonna run away from paying anything to the Government in OZ.

So this is one of the very RAREEE occasion have I found something I WANT that is cheap here in OZ compare to US eventhough by just a few bucks. After all this research you think everybody in the house will welcome a new Mac Book Air??

Myers AUD1249 including tax @ myers online store

Apple OZ AUD1349 including tax @ OZ Apple store

Apple US USD1199~AUD1199 @ US Apple Store

Woii.. whats that?

2011-10-06T11:20:00.001+08:00

Flag?

Ayah: Wooii Zareef... Whats that suppose to be?
Zareef: Thats my flag.
Ayah: Why r u using ur undies as ur flag.
Zareef: Cause it has a Ben 10 kromostom on it. And I like Ben 10

Conclusion - kids arent shy to show their allegiance/patriotism/flag-waveringism even though its directed to a cartoon.... and they really know how to improvise

ps.. the toy thats holding it up gives a air whooshing sound that adds to the drama.

Not that excited anymore r u?

2011-10-04T07:30:00.000+08:00

As Gobbler said it ... HOTT PIESS!!

Although its good to see the pie fans all silent . I do miss the thrash talking and the enthusiasm. I guess the seasons over. Lets concentrate on the Rugby World Cup then. Go Wallabies!

Zareef Gongak!

2011-10-04T05:00:00.000+08:00

Cert for being the best patient

Korek Doc.. jgn tak korek

Zareef had a soar tooth the other day. We went to the dentist to find out whats wrong. After 3 visits to the clinic and an extra visit to the X-rays we found out that Zareef broke his tooth and the roots are still in his gums. We decided to remove the remaining roots so that the adult teeth can grow properly and to avoid infection and bad breath. It wasn't an easy procedure. It took about an hour and 3 dosage of anesthetic to get the things out. The dentist and her assistant did a good job especially calming Zareef down and taking care of him. But Zareef did the best. Quoting the dentist "Im not saying it just because but you have been a great patient, best we had for a while even better than most grown-ups". He was brave and he followed instructions and he did everything he can to make the procedure go smoothly. Anybody who knows Zareef will ponder how this miracle can happen but it did happen. For his trouble the Dentist gave him a cert and a toy. While for the dentist troubles, I had to pay HEAPS instead... and still you have bad breath Zareef!!

Thank You Cats

2011-10-02T12:59:00.003+08:00

Thank You Geelong so much.... you did all of us right.

The silence of the Pie fans is deafening.

Footy Grand Final

2011-10-01T05:00:00.000+08:00

Went to the footy at the 'G'

Its that time of the season again when people go ferrel for their football team.. yes mostly pies fan. It can get exciting (on the other hand it can get really boring.. 100 points margin and stuff) I can tell you that especially last week preliminary finals between Hawthorn and Collingwood. Yes they have many versions of 'final'. Cant grab the idea around that yet. People get really excited about it in Victoria. Really excited... to the extent of excitement just because. Eg.. your team is already winning by 50 points and 1 minute to go, the next score they go crazy like its the winning goal of the world cup. I asked them does it make a difference. A flat out no was the answer.

Anyways, I rather have my soccer (a harder and more technical game in my eyes). I cant call it football here... ppl will get confused or angry. I still remember a mate making fun of me when I called it football instead of soccer. He said, "The sport when the ball is round".... like its a bad thing. Last I check the definition of a ball is a round object. Whatever... look whos talking, a fan of a sport that gets a point for missing. Yup.. you get a point for missing. The only other sport I know who does it is the Irish football thingy... but thats different because they intentionally aim for the lower points goal.

Enough of my rambling.. I might not know enough about footie but i do admire the fans enthusiasm although I reckon saje diorang lebih2 (thats why its so strong financially). But i just cant understand why ppl that are into footie have the cheek to make fun of other sports when they dont realize they are the only ones playing it.

Raya 2010 vs 2011

2011-09-28T05:00:00.000+08:00

Changing nasty oil

Processing the oil

Syawal is nearly over and the Raya season is passing us by even in Mesia the one country I know that celebrates it for a month. I still remember last year we had the crappiest Raya ever. We didnt get the day off (baru start kerja), work wasnt easy, knew hardly anybody, kids got sick often, things were bloody expensive. It wasnt fun I can tell you that.

I still remember that Raya day. At work, something dropped into the oil I was replacing (part of my training) and it splashed all over me.... I said to myself "what a %&@ life, others are wet with wuduk and me with this nasty stinking oil". I vowed we are not celebrating raya like this again. Felt sad and guilty that the kids will miss out on our culture. So we said we are going back each raya from now on. But 2011 would be different because MIL is around. Next year onwards insyallah. We can only plan.

This year raya on the other hand was full of happy feelings. Got great food (lemang, ketupat , rendang, kuih tart... semualah) and great company. Did all the traditional stuff. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. Thinking back about last year makes it all the sweeter. Even my waistline agrees. So below are some of our happier memories of Raya in Melbourne.

Twins?

2011-09-27T11:26:00.002+08:00

Wheres the mirror?

Took this picture of Zara and her friend Rachel during Kindy. Thought it was cute both wore the same dress and amazingly both get along very well. Is it safe to assume personalities that are well paired have the same taste in fashion.... either that or the mommies went to the same Target store and bought the Sale item of the week. I reckon its the later. Anyways they look like they can start a Girl Band.

Changes on the site

2011-09-27T10:58:00.003+08:00

Hope the new changes are more pleasing to our readers. We wanted it more personalized and simplified. I hope we got that across. Another thing worth mentioning is that I enabled the mobile site feature. Making it easier to view on the go.

Some lessons are learnt by their consequences

2011-09-17T17:16:00.001+08:00

Jangan kacau... nanti dia marah!

karang dia cakar kang!

Best kena cakar?!!!

Kids (Adults too i guess)... You keep warning them... but it just doesn't get through to them. Some lessons are learnt by their consequences. Thats why I reckon sometimes we have to let people make their own mistakes. Choosing which ones is the hard task.

Zara version of fairytale

2011-08-29T06:09:00.001+08:00

Ayah: very beautiful.... Just like in the fairy-TALE
Zara: Nooooo..... Fairy doesn't have TAILSSSSS, they have wings and sparkling facess

Cikgu Morinho

2011-08-19T03:34:00.000+08:00

Ahhh real barca again. Always figthing. Macam budak2. Tu yg cikgu kena ajar sikit. Tarik telinga nak?

Ps. Loving the classico drama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEH9BmYvz0o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Zareef the budak hutan... org hutan pun boleh jugak!

2011-08-17T14:43:00.001+08:00

The budak2 hutan's

Muscle lah konon... keding giler adalah

Lovely mama and Zara waiting for the show

Zareef doing his drum part of the song

On stage doing their thing

Selamba nya... We need to talk son!

Last week Zareef was involved in a Cabaret held by his school. It was held at a city council hall and it was very nice. Although they had hundreds of kids yelling and running around everything went very smooth and enjoyable.

Zareefs class was doing the George of The Jungle song. They nailed it pretty well. Especially making the "ooooOOOOooOOOO" tarzan sound while pounding their chest. Their costumes were awesome and cute. All the parents loved it. Kids loved it too... paling tak tahan zareef kacau a girl that was kinda flabby. Dangerous Zareef ni... one of the pics is the evidence.

Till next time..

Bukak puasa di Ostrolia

2011-08-15T11:52:00.004+08:00

Last weekend we had a bukak puasa at our house. We loved it coz it just brings our culture of breaking fast together. Sharing food with other Muslims is a blessed feeling. we had lovely food from Ikan bakar, kerabu, kfc, tart and other manisan. I loved it when the dining table was full of food and people eating. Addition to our very Malay cultured night we had Upin Ipin as part of our entertainment. It was fantastic and enjoyed by all of us. I hope to keep this tradition going inshallah as to not forget the finer things in life.

Sekampung of Shahrul's

2011-08-06T10:16:00.005+08:00

Last week a very close friend of us came to Melbourne. Yup the one and only Shahrul. We are always excited to get visitors... what more somebody we've known and like most of our lives. We had fun at the park, went to cafes, driving around showing popular spots in Melbourne, watch the fireworks but the highlight must be the our Ozzie home style Barby!!

With only short notice Shahrul being Shahrul said the whole 12 family members are coming to our small house.... FYI Shahrul has some seriously BIG family members. Bak kata Shahrul "Dengan Zul, takyah malu!!!" ... plus dengan selambanya ajak org lain datang rumah tanpa notifying me. But Shahrul was right I didn't mind at all. Loved it actually especially with the kids running around. He knows me well. So we decided to do mee hoon and barbeque some lamb chops and steaks. They loved itttt! Especially Abang. He keeps saying "I love your meat". They loved it soo much it wasn't enough. So they went to the butchers and bought some more.. A LOTTT MOREE... the biggest steaks I had ever seen. Had to hold it with 2 hands punya besar. Layann memang LAYAANNN!!! tu tak kira hotdog, lamb chop and others. Memang habis barby.. to top it off, they went out again to buy apple crumble and ice cream... giler guilty makan but who caresss.. sinful pleasure. I hope they had a good time cause rumah pun kecik and we had to do with what we have. But it seemed they didnt mind and had enjoyed themselves.

Another fun thing we did together was watching the fireworks at docklands. It was beautiful and lasted a fair bit. Memang puas. Zareef keeps shouting if excitement. Zara was amazed with all the colours and singing/dancing with the songs they played along with the fireworks show. Shania was a little cautious of the loud bangs but I think she enjoyed it in her own way. The funny thing was we didn't even know there would be fireworks. It took a tourist (Julie) to tell us whats going on in our own city.

Sorry I didn't get to take many pictures but hoping shahrul and family will post in FB soon.

Ya Allah, Rahmatilah Ibu kesayangan ku.

2011-08-02T08:30:00.003+08:00

I have recently lost my beloved mother. How dearly I miss her and love her. I'm going through a stage were every memory is coming back in flashes bringing smiles and laughter. How much I adore her for her love and strength. Anybody who knows her will confirm how loving she is and how she will do everything for her loved ones. I can't write too much without shedding tears so I will stop here.

I love you Mama!!

I will pray everyday that Allah place you among those who are blessed and loved by Him

Who is this Alexis Sanchez

2011-06-16T07:57:00.002+08:00

Summer is here (well not Here in OZ but ....ahhh u know what i mean). In the football world it means transfer season. This is when clubs go shopping/stealing other players from other clubs. Like usual big clubs fight for the best players. I keep hearing about Sanchez from Udinese (chilean international). Everybody wants him... Barca, Man city, Man U, Real and others. So i decided to look him up. after a few vids and reading his bio. I think he is fantastic. Looks like a smart skillful player with confidence. I especially like him cause he is the type of players that run towards and take on a defender. I just hope he is consistent at it... he surely will go far if he does. Another thing I hope he leaves Serie A (that is why I dont really know him) and goes somewhere I can follow him like Champs league or LA liga or EPL. Wish him all the best and hope he can fulfill his potential to entertain football fans like us. Enjoy the vid.

Visiting Dino's

2011-05-31T11:35:00.003+08:00

The kids are into dinosaurs nowadays. We rather have them involved in dinos rather than 'lady gaga' or 'ben 10'. So we decided to have a visit to the dino show in the city so they can see 'real' like dinosaurs. Enjoy the video.

The first year in Melbourne - part 1

2011-05-17T12:32:00.000+08:00

It has been a year since we arrived in Melbourne. How time flies. After each milestone or 'check ins' i always like to ponder back what we/I have done in that time. So this post is a summary of how our first year was in Melbourne

Struggle but surviving the change and moving. Still remembered how panicked i was before getting a house and a job. Stress giler especially financially. I realized how expensive and confusing Melbourne can be. Wouldn't do that again.

Zareef first birthday in melbourne was a real quiet one compared to the ones he has had before. We always had a party for our birthdays - any excuse to get together is a great excuse - those were the days. I have always wanted to get Zareef this present. In a way it represents a little why we moved here. couldn't even think of getting it before i got a job here.

My birthday was a damped one as well.. no complains i think when you past 18 you don't really want people to know how old you are

Little by little we started exploring our surrondings... From the zoo to the beaches to the markets to the parks... we started falling in love with Melbourne our new home...

Had a few gathering as well just to make sure we feell melayu and keeping to the roots..

Mt hotham was a real memorable expedition... had lots of fun and experiences there... the theme of that trip was 'extreemeee'.

Maz birthday wasnt that bad... we had lunch beside the yarra river.... it was lovely day too...

Puasa and raya came... we had the open puasa gathering and bunga api which I really appreciate.. but when raya came I was really sad cause I was drenched in oil instead of wuduk for sembahyang raya.... the only day i regret being here instead of Mesia... we also had the open houses which just bring backs home..

Thats it for now.. i'll write more later.

Stunt Boy Zareef

2011-05-15T05:36:00.004+08:00

On Easter Break we travelled to Sydney and visited a few interesting places including Darling Harbour. When we were there, a street performer wanted a volunteer from a crowd for his show. Zareef put his hand up and was chosen. He had good fun and loved it. We all had a good laugh and Zareef made us proud. Enjoy the video.

Zazamazu.wordpress.com

2011-05-08T19:06:00.002+08:00

I'm trying out a new blog cause it's not that convenient blogging thru blogspot anymore.... Still try and error... Let's see how it goes

Blogspot xx-NO GO-xx on iPad

2011-05-08T15:23:00.004+08:00

Having this crappy problem with blogspot.. Apparently I can't type thru blogspot compose mode in iPad2 but only in HTML which makes it a whole lot harder. Ironically you wouldn't have the same problem with iPhones. Typing on iPad is painful enough, I couldn't imagine blogging on iPhones. After some researching the problem occurs cause google (blogspot owners) hasn't tweaked it's comp ability arrangement. It worries me cause iPad has been in the market for over a year now but googles seems not to be doing anything soon. There are apps out there such as blogpress which cost 3 bucks to support our blogging but it's just not good enough especiall when pics and movies are involved. Anyways being the cheap s.o.b. I am I refuse to pay for something I think should be free. Henceforth I'm trying wordpress instead. They have a f.o.c. App that seems to be user friendly enough especially thru the ipad2 Let's see how it goes..

Ps.. Yes I jakun sebab baru dapat ipad2 and trying to change my cyber world adapting to it. My ipad2 is necessary cause my household counterparts are hogging the house iMac. Excuses excuses

Ps part2..... Thinking back I shouldnt give excuses it's my moneyy what!!! So say me before paying the credit card bills.

Credit card for a ride?

2011-05-01T08:03:00.002+08:00

This is the first time I saw a credit card machine for a ride. First thought through my mind was how desperate some business are in these trying times. Good luck anyways to you but I don't think I'll be swiping my card any time soon for it.

Website Imigresen hampeh!

2011-04-10T07:16:00.003+08:00

Hampeh tul website imigresen ni!!

The other day I had to do some stuff concerning the immigration department. I usually go to the Shah Alam branch in PKNS but I was staying at KD so I decided to check the site to go to the nearest branch instead. I looked at the site (as in the pic above) and was happy there is a branch in Subang Airport which was only 10-15 minutes from KD. Glad I dont have to go to Shah Alam which will take about 15-20 minutes more to get there.

Ahaaaaa!! there was the mistake. Assuming all things are tepat jitu dan efisyen doesnt really flow well when it comes to some stuff. When I got to the subang airport, it took me a while to find the exact location because there wasn't any immigration department (you can only see bekas2 paint colour imigresen - hijau buruk2 sikit). Dah lah dah kena bayar parking tak pasal2! Asked the guy at the stalls there where the immigration was he said "Dah lamaaa dah tutupp bang!!" while giving me the 'what kind of question was that' look. Stress giler!! To top it off I wasn't alone, there were 4 other families trying to locate the same "ghost" immigration department. After telling them they moved we shared resources and found out the nearest one was the Kelana Jaya branch in Plaza Glomac.

Pusing kiri lepas nampak Petronas was the directions I got from them. Beraper banyak Petronas daaa kat Kelana Jaya. Got lost obviously - Plaza Glomac besar babe! When I reached the branch I was happy to see not a lot of people. Queued up to get the borang and number. Brother yg jaga counter said "Encik, kat sini buat passport je... encik kena pergi pusat damansara". Ahhhhhh tension nye diri kuu time ni. Tambah lagi tension when I was leaving Plaza Gomac I had to pay again for parking.

Pusat Damansara was the worst, full of people and kerek je org kat counter. I had to wait 45 minutes just to get a number and ask about the forms. Sakit hati giler with the macha that jaga the counter, with every question i asked dia jawab "Tak payah - dont have to" eventhough I didn't even get to finish my questions. Rasa macam tumbuk je mamat tu. I looked at my number and I was like the 20th in line. Oklah I went down minum jap. Came up after 30 minutes... and walllaaaaa the que just moved by 1. Beautiful .. just beautiful!!! went down again for another 30 minutes. and yet again it moved by just 1. So based on this I will get serviced by midnight. I give up... it just smacked back all the frustration I had ever felt when running errands like this. So I just left and decided to think about it the following day. 'Rugi giler hari ku' was my first thought. Oh yee Parking lagi kena bayar! bestnya business parking ni

The next day went to Shah Alam and everything went perfectly. Really perfectly, it took less than 1 hour and I was out of there. So lesson learn, when all fails to go Shah Alam imigresen, if you want to go get a passport you can do it at Plaza Glomac branch (be sure of the location, jangan risau minyak sebab stesen petronas banyak), if you have the whole day to waste and want to feel insulted or treated like sh!t go to Pusat Damansara and the most importantly Subang Airport branch is the best sebab tak ramai orang and your always the first in line!!

Stankovic's goal!!

2011-04-06T18:40:00.003+08:00

What a Goal!!! Love ittt. Absolutely beautiful and skillful. Amazing.

ps.. although i consider great goals as unstoppable goals which is not the case for this one but I love it all the samee

Don't You - Darren Criss

2011-04-06T18:31:00.002+08:00

The wife and kids really love this song so I thought of putting it in the blog. I was shocked when Zara started singing this song when I was just randomly playing the Itunes. Zareef can sing along too. See how Mothers who likes Glee influences the children. So not feeling Ieft behind I better catch up and learn this song too.

Enjoy the song!!

DARREN CRISS - "DON'T YOU" LYRICS

Say…
Wasn’t that a funny day.
Gee you had a funny way, a way about you
A kind of glow, of something new

Sure...
I’ll admit that I’m the same
Another sucker for a game kids like to play
And the rules they like to use

Don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel for you

The sun…
Telling me the night is done
I refuse to let it - stop our fun
Close your eyes and make it dark again.

And kiss…
There’s a thought so how ‘bout this
Let’s pretend that both our lips are made of candy
After all we need sweets every now and then

Don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel for you

Here we are two strangers in a very different place
Who knows what will happen…to us next
Here we are with nothing but this little spark
It’s too cold outside to lay this fire to rest

Go…
How so very apropos
A goodbye just as soon as I said hello
Oh all right, I'll see you later

It’s true…
It’s just a fantasy for two
But what’s the difference if it all could have been true
I guess this is better,

But don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel for you

Oh don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel
Don’t you want the way I feel for you
Don’t you want the way that I feel for you

New Camera.. Nikon D7000

2011-04-05T18:01:00.004+08:00

I mention things were cheaper in Mesia especially for electronics and camera. I always put my money where my mouth is (so i believe) so I bought myself a new Camera. A new Nikon D7000. It had great reviews from all the pro's and sites and it was dirt cheap in my opinion for the quality its giving. RM3350(body only) a deal breaker indeed compared to the prices here. Somehow I was lucky too cause the day I asked about it a G-1 Amcorp Mall the tauke smiled as said "u tahu org ka?? ini hari baru nikon suruh turun harga D7000". I berlakon macam tahu bagus je lah cause nanti mana tahu benda lain I can get cheaper.

Highlights of the camera is the video recording, the cmos sensor, 39 focus point, my menu, U1 + U2 user settings, motored (my D3000 takde motor so lens mahal2), size kecik but feel macam pro, all in all a bargain of things for the price paid. And better yet i think my 35mm f1.8 is a great partner with the d7000. I'm sooo happy with it I dont think i'll be needing to upgrade a camera in the next 5 years (biting my tongue a bit here).

So thanks Amru, Din and Fariz for giving me advise/cucuk me to buy it. A special thanks to Amru for suggesting the lens and teaching a few tips.

I'll try and upload a few pics later when I get real nice shots.

Oh yee... I just told the wife about it and she was cool about it. Who says you cant make everybody happy.... JIWANG CAMERA LAGI SEBENARNYA....

New Look + Starting again

2011-04-05T12:34:00.009+08:00

Its been a while since the last entry. I dont want to give lame stories or excuses behind it (and no... my absent posting is not due to the tragic 5-0 loss which many may think). But i do admit it was tragic. Patah hati sampai sekarang. Dah lah league macam nak kalah gakkk!!..

Soooo... moving on, I changed the look of the blog. Still not the look i'm looking for, if I have time i'll try to make it better but its just to show my initiative to blog again especially SHARING STORIES OF US TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

I just got back from Mesia and there were so many stories to share with them and I realized how much the people close to us care for our family. It kicked my blogging bum to get back to writing in a subtle way. I would try and make blogging a routine I promised myself.

So just to sum up what i did in Mesia:

Me Mom wasnt well, had to go to the hospital and spend time with her when she was home. I always try to keep my promise of taking care of the people I love/care, and My mom is among the top in the list. I always feel sad being so far away and hearing she is not well. My dad is getting old too and although he tries to show how fit he is, I know he is getting tired. I really do appreciate what my lil sis Wawa and Bibik taking care of them.
Visit Family and Friends - I tried to visit as many as I can. A week is not that long so I'm sorry if I didn't get a chance to meet some people. Had a blast and really felt happy to catch up with people. This the thing I miss most.

Eat - Food, food and more food. For the first few days I ate like there was no tomorrow but afterwards I just think I had an Overflow feeling and slowed down dramatically. You cant eat everything in the world (my thinking might defer from Wafi - but thats Wafi). Highlight food was the Kampung Gombak food, teh lapis, roti canai Raju & kueh teow FAM

Sight Seeing - KL seems to change a lot in a little time. Either that or I was just katak tempurung when I was there. Yeah I think I am a katak tempurung cause Genting pun tak pernah pergi. The drive to Genting was nice (thanks geng for bringing me), although it was a little run down, I think Genting is kinda nice. Changkat was also very nice too. I still can't stand that French guy being suprised to see a Malay in Changkat. U ingat Changkat tu kat Eropah ke?
Shopping - Did a little of this. Although KL is not as cheap as I remembered it was still affordable to buy stuff. Got stuff yg memang susah nak dapat in Melbourne like telekung, sejadah etc2. Electronics/camera pun murah in KL. Baju Benzema je tak jumpa. Sekarang dah menyesal tak beli. And thanks everybody that bought our family stuff. They love it.

Thats about it I think, I hope this entry will be among the many that will come. Thanks for visiting and do leave a comment (positive ones alright!!) especially if your family and friends.

Ready for the El-Classico?

2010-11-27T03:24:00.009+08:00

Twice a year there are 2 games in Spanish La-Liga that football fans all over the world keen to watch. No matter if your a Valencia fan, a Kelantan fan or even a Liverpool fan (are there any left?). Its the head-head show down of the 2 biggest clubs in Spain or I would like to consider the world. Yup Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. Its so hyped up over they even have a 'title' for this matchup called "El Classico". No other league matches across the world has a title for its normal league match (as far as I know - could be lying).

Although its just a normal league game (as Shahrul puts it - macam Almeria vs Getafe etc etc) and does not really carry extra weight in the competition, the match is worked up because of its history and all the behind-the-scene that comes with it. Which is the part I love most (especially being a Real Madrid Fan). Barcelona vs Real Madrid rivalry is arguably the most frictional of the club footballing world. Dramas aside the only real weightage of the game is that in Spanish La Liga to determine the winner after the total points are the head to head goal difference (if you can't follow what I mean - NVM, just ignore it).

Madrid is the capital of Spain while Barcelona is like the capital of Catalan. In simple terms both city talk different languages, have different political believes (Catalan wants/consider themselves independent from Spain vs Real Madrid was 'backed' by the Gomen sort off /Real means Royal), different very influential Media's (Radio Barca, Marca Newspaper), different Ultra (Super Fanatic) fans and different views on football. In modern times there is no better venue to iron out these "differences" than a good sporting game. Thats why the importance/emphasis on El Classico.

I can go on and on and on about this but Zareef dah start bangun (its 630am - punyalah semangat lepas subuh terus nak tulis about Classico) and ajak tengok Batman The Bold and The Brave. Cutting this short here is a list some of the stuff that happen previously gearing up and making this Classico a real watcher and I think you would like to know:

Pig Head - Barca's fans threw a real Pig's Head at Luis Figo when he was taking a corner kick. Barca felt betrayed when he was loved and was a star player in Barca but moved to Madrid by plotting with Perez to buy out his contract clause.
Raul's Famous SSSSHHHH celebration - Raul started the famous SSHHHH finger to mouth goal celebration shutting up the whole Nou Camp (100,000 ppl). Cooll right!!
Barca in grown talents/star versus Real Madrids power buying Galacticos
For the previous years the only 2 clubs contending for LA LIGA.
Morinho was an interpreter in Barca but ironically have beaten Barca with 2 clubs he managed (Chealsea and Inter). Morinho itself is a whole new blog entry
Ronaldinho Standing ovation from the Ultras at Bernabeu after a solo effort. This was when Real Madrid was politically unstable.
Ronaldo vs Messi... arguably the 2 most biggest star right now. There are also topping the La Liga goal scoring table. Different qualities in both professionally and personality. Ronaldo solo play/'lawa'/stylo/strong arrogant personality of a winner while Messi a small boy from the kampungs but superbly awesome and talented. Excited to see what they will do against each other.

Ok ok .. got to go.. Zareef dah tanya dah lagi... I leave you with a video of the previous goals Madrid scored at Nou Camp.

HALA MADRID!!!

ps.. Dont forget the game is on a Monday cause Catalan Elections on the Sunday.

Making chicks project

2010-11-09T15:49:00.006+08:00

This morning Zareef pulled Zara over to a corner of his class. He asked Zara and me to keep quiet while approaching this incubator/heater thing. He said "shhhhhh... the eggs are sleeping". The class has this science project about hatching eggs. Interesting stuff. Most of the facts even I dont know (not saying much about my intelligence). The best thing about it, I asked Zareef when the chicks will hatch... With confidence and certainty he answered "Friday... Zareef dah kira dah". Lets see if its true.. but i reckon dia main tembak je teka.

ps... Stay tuned, I'll give an update if he got it right.

Note Wed: the first chick hatched today... Zareef salah!!

Riang gembira kalernyaa!!!

2010-11-08T18:29:00.003+08:00

Got this pic over the weekend from Faz. We were really eager to see it and it didn't disappoint. Just felt happy looking at it and really brought a smile to us. Thanks Faz for the picture.

Zareef the good boy... iyeke??

2010-11-04T17:58:00.002+08:00

Zareef was showing me this league there are having at Pre-school. I was wandering why he was so eager. Apparently he was leading the others in a 'Good Behaviour League'. It made me proud to see it (good job zareef). Somehow it just doesnt fit on how he acts out at home... ni case dera mak bapak ni. But sebenarnya he is turning out to be a good boy. I thought the day will never come - those who saw Zareef growing up understands this (he was like the character stitch from the cartoon 'lilo & stitch' ). Alhamdulillah and we pray this continues for Zara and him so that they become good ppl. Insyallah.

"Theres no bigger success for us than making our children better ppl"

Luggage claim

2010-10-30T06:40:00.003+08:00

Took these pictures after taking the train to work yesterday. It was smack in the middle of Southern Cross Station. Looked huge from far but once you get closed you realize its a site office decorated with heaps and heaps of bags. I reckon its a good way to use unclaimed luggage.

Mamak Melbourne

2010-10-26T17:53:00.004+08:00

The other day we went to a Mamak for lunch. Its about 5 minute tram ride and 10 minute walk from the office. Its called Rich Maha. The guys call it Richy (everything in ozzy slang ends with a 'y'). Owned by a Malaysian from Selangor (repressentttingg!!!). The food is just fantastic although I thought the staff were all from Mesia. Embarrassingly got it wrong when I talked in Malay but got the "whad a u talking about' shake of the head. We had tossai and mee goreng mamak.. with teh tarik to wash it all down. Loveddd ittt!!! very authentic. Will definitely make a point to go there more.

Kayuu??? syed??? pelita?? khalifah??..... lupa dah semua.. I only know Richies!! :p poyo sikit..

ps.. saja je sebab nak kurang rasa jeles at the food back in Mesia.

Geng Botak

2010-10-26T17:25:00.004+08:00

A month ago.....

Zareef: Ayaahhh.. bila nak potong rambut ni!!!!

We have been holding out on the haircuts. Somehow I still think its expensive to get a haircut (around $15 for kids and around $20 for myself). So we decided to get a hair trimmer machine instead costing about the same as haircuts for Zareef and me.

We have this tradition since Zareef was born: if either one of us goes botak, the other will go along with it. Hence our new look. It wasnt easy with Zareef moving every second saying it was ticklish. Cutting my own hair wasn't a walk in the park as well especially without a mirror . After a half hour in the shower I realized theres still a big patch on top that didnt get trimmed. Argghh I had to start the process all over again. Bottom line cleaning hair is not fun.

At the end of the day, I reconsidered if all the trouble was worth the money I saved but then I look back at the pics we took.... yeah it was worth it.... we just looked too bloody good!!!!

lol.. heres our pics for ur amusement.....

New love called Taylor

2010-10-17T14:56:00.003+08:00

I rarely spend money on myself particularly on non-essential items. But this time just because and from hasil cucuk "Gel the guitar collector" I bought myself an acoustic guitar. Its a BT1 baby Taylor (I had always dreamed of owning one). Its very small (3/4) and cute. Sounds great and really mobile. I love it especially when I can play it lying down or slouching on the sofe and for it being so well made. Sitka spruce top and dreadnought shaped - very Taylor indeed. Looking forward to learn and playing for hours on it. Thinking of getting the kids into music too. Lets see how it goes.

4 Seasons in a Day

2010-10-17T14:43:00.002+08:00

I knew that the weather is as predictable as Paklah's decisions - changes at every corner. But today is the first day we really experienced the freakishness of it. We had hail, snow (1 hour drive away), hot staring glare sun, real winds (not the gassy old man type) and downpour storms. Unfortunately its one of those day I had to take the train. And the funny thing is ppl in the train was dressed so differently. Some prepared for hot weather while some went totally the opposite and went with the layers. It just gets confusing

My new version of 'Pelita'

2010-10-10T16:48:00.006+08:00

"Pelita malam ni kul 9.42pm jom!!!"

I used to love getting this sms. It means a good night out with friends to discuss whatever mundane things in our lives. We used to have this 'board meeting' at Pelita seksyen 9 Shah Alam with the same culprits. Typically once a week. I liked it a lot cause it can be therapeutic and we share thoughts and insights on what we are going through. More heads are better than one kinda thing.

The other day the same mates gave me an SMS and FB message kinda inviting me to the usual 'pelita' session. Made me jeles in a way. So instead I went to Brunetti's. Its a pretty famous cafe in Lygon St. Lots and lots of cakes and fantastic drinks. Heres a few pics. Check it out.So now instead of "Jom pelita" I will go "Jom Brunetti's". LAYANNN!!

Things are looking brighter

2010-10-04T16:07:00.003+08:00

The title explains what we are going through literally and figuratively. For once its getting sunnier and warmer. Spring is here. The flowers are blooming, birds are singing & I dont dread shivering taking my shower in the morning....... and yes i do take shower in the morning. The thing that surprised us was how fast the warm weather came. One day it was cold and gloomy then the next its like summer. The sun really bares down here. I was told the ozone was somehow thinner in and around this Southern region of the world due to pollution. So they believe and tell me. Thats why the green movement is big here. There is also a political party (the 3rd or so biggest) called green and yep ..... Melbourne's MP is a Green.

Sunburn is also a big issue. All kids got to have a hat while playing in school/kindy. You can see ppl with sunburn in every corner. Still jakun berjemur lagi and so forth. Ada sekali tu, we saw a lady tgh2 jalan jemur kat atas concrete parkway in front of a busy road. The taman was like across the street tapi nak jugak baring tunjuk body yg sangat voluptuous tu. Confident giler makcik gemuk tu ngan badan half naked dia. Always admired the self esteem of a fat lady.

Yeah on a figurative level, everything seems to be turning out ok. Alhamdulillah. There are hiccups and stuff but overall its all good. Work is great.. especially I still dont have that much responsibility yet. Enjoying it while I still can. Family are happy. Kids are cheery and playful not to mention healthy. Turning out very well especially the kids ngan slang diorang. They dont talk as much malay as they used to. Somehow I realize they tend to revert back to malay only during weekends after the break from other kids. The wife is also happy. Shes making good friends with her office mate. The have a lunch group already. I join them once in a while. Cant do it too often cause my lunch break is only 30 minutes. I dont complain cause I leave the ofis at 430pm.

So we started to do stuff again on weekends. Took a break during puasa/raya season. So heres a few pics of us enjoying the weather and exploring what Melbourne has to offer.

ps.. All my happiness is from the Almighty who I will always be eternally grateful. Insyallah.

Sparkies @ Safeway

2010-10-02T07:51:00.004+08:00

Raya is nearly over and yes we are kinda sad not 'raya'ing away. One thing that is associated with Raya is definately the bunga api. So when I saw this at the local Safeway it just shoots back the raya feeling.

Just wanted to share how funny it is when I had a hard time to find a place to buy bunga api when I was back in Mesia but now I can just get some down the road at a supermarket.

Tambah lah kolestrol

2010-09-28T17:10:00.003+08:00

Heres a picture of my tasty lunch dessert. Its sooooo sweet I couldn't go all the way. Nice though. It was hot and crunchy on the outside and mushy and gooey in the inside. Have to eat it warm before it gets soggy. Its good, i'll buy it again but maybe when theres somebody i can share it with.

ps.. it might a good idea if anybody wants to start selling the stuff back in mesia

To indulge or not?

2010-09-25T06:17:00.005+08:00

Saw one of this poster in a 'fish and chaips' shop around Beacie depot. Still contemplating/considering going there this Monday to indulge in this sinful pleasure. Last time I had one of this was nearly 20 years ago back in Glasgow and I remembered how I loved it. Even had it with a snickers bar.

That does it!! Its happening this Monday. I'll tell you how it tastes.

Who do you barrack for?

2010-09-21T17:29:00.008+08:00

Got asked this question a few times now. If you wanna really feel like an aussies especially a Victorian you got to have a footie team. I say Victoria cause although we call it 'aussie rule' but like 80% of the teams are from Victoria (and probably other states dont follow it too much). Practically all the prime suburbs have their own team (No wonder Melbourne is the sport capital of Ostrolia).

There is a lot of history in the game which goes back to more than a hundred years. You've got to respect that. I don't understand a whole lot of the whats in the news and all that but the actual game is not that hard to figure out. There's goals (6 or 1 points), marks, 4 quarters and so on but the technical/tactical part I still have to research/learn more to appreciate it. More story behind the scenes and rivalries are always the fun part. Little I know but one thing for sure Collingwood is so full of themselves (just like Man U in a way) and everybody else thinks their idiots but I have to admit they are pretty good and have the biggest fan base. Whenever I told the blokes I have yet to decide a team, everybody will say choose anything but Collingwood. Certain teams like Carlton represents the posh group, Hawthorn and the Saints represents the working class and so forth. It is interesting I can tell you that. People outside Victoria might make fun of it all but i assure you its serious in here.

The thing I admire most about the game is that it is a family thing. For example football/soccer, NFL, NBA and all that its more of a man thing but everybody follows footie. You can see a grandma going to a market with a Saints scarf and all that. I just meet a guy who just had a niece last week and we was already signing her up to his footie club. They are loyal to their team throughout their whole lives. So I emphasize again its very serious and I admire that.

So after all this, I have finally chosen a team and their playing this Saturday (aka Grande Final Day) against Collingwood. Wish us luck!!

"Who do you barrack for mate?"

The 'Saints'!!!!

Slowing down on the blogging

2010-09-19T04:03:00.003+08:00

Apparently we have been slow on our blogging. We realized we tend to use FB more to update to family and friends which was the whole point of our blogging. It is a whole easier too with the Iphone Apps that we got for us and for our circle of people. So I apologize if this site/blog will seem to slow down from now on. To those who know us, catch us on facebook. I guarantee a warm welcome.

I bet liberal will win

2010-08-23T14:41:00.004+08:00

Its a neck to neck election this year which leads to a hung parliament. Its also scary that the fate of the government lies in about 5 independent politicians. 1 is enough to be untrustworthy let alone 5.
I'm betting the liberal win. Here are some of my amateurish views on why:

1. All mining counters closed higher in the the market leading to believe that mining tax and Gillard will be dropped.
2. If indeed mining men are like the oil men in the US, labour will go out like a bomb. They had enough power to get rid of Rudd.
3. SportsBet put up odds in the favor of liberal and we know they do their research diligently.
4. Both arent trustworthy, but labour proved to be wasteful. Which is a cardinal sin in this financial times. They just messed up the theory of "spending creates a healthy economy". Oz is not hard hit by the recession cause of its way of being conservative - and it works!!

But these views are from somebody who barely understands the politics here so please take it with a lot of salt and Green (just like the party which won the melbourne seat - the only green seat in parliment).

Ramadhan

2010-08-18T12:33:00.003+08:00

Its a little late but I would like to wish everybody a blessed ramadhan and would like to apologize for any wrong doings. It is the favorite month in my calender but this time around its a little different.

When back home I can really feel the excitement and peace that comes with the month. The pasar, the gathering during breaking fast and the cleansing feeling when going to terawih and praying. I'm not getting that much here now being abroad. Namely cause everybody else don't fast and doesn't understand why we are doing it after i told my OZ friends of Ramadhan and fasting. Apparently the guy that impressed me with his Ramadhan understanding was my course instructor that had just came back serving in the army from Afghanistan. He even knew when Ramadhan started before I told him.

It was kinda hard to explain about fasting and I had to emphasize that I'm doing it out of will instead of being forced upon. If anybody who is knowledgeable can better explain things please do tell me. Its not my area of expertise. Most people I talked to was thinking it was extreme to fast like we are. I beg to differ. So please help me in explaining.

All seriousness aside, being new to the area I still cant find a place to go terawikh. I know a few but they are so far away. I don't even know who to ask cause all of my muslim friends are not used to this area. I guess I can still terawikh at home but I would rather find a mosque/surau soon.

On a positive side, we break fast at around 540pm. Early right. Sometimes its too early and the food isn't ready yet. We had our share of opening fast with some chips in the car. I realize too that we dont eat that much to overcompensate like what we used to especially after visiting the pasar ramadhan and the buffet's.

Talking about buffet's and pasar... I sure do miss them. Although I can still get the laksa's and nasi lemak's here theres more I would like to get my hands on. Here is my dream list:

Roti jala with rendang
murtabak raja not the murtabak kedekut daging
putu piring yg tak kedekut gula murah
Tau foo fa yg brown bukan white
popiah basah and goreng smothered in the sweet chili sauce.
Apam Balik special - lots of jagung with chocolate toppings
Keropok lekor ori nya dari Kuala Terengganu
Butter prawn dari hotel Concorde Shah Alam
Kuih pelita
cucuk udang yg banyak udang and sos cili sedap and not watery.

Could write more but cukuplah.. I don't why I'm writing all this food down. I guess cause I'm waiting the time to break fast so start lah berangan. So you can imagine how annoying I can be when I'm hungry.

Enjoy the rest of Ramadhan everybody. May everybody be in peace. Salam

Extreme Sport on Mount Hotham

2010-08-08T08:18:00.008+08:00

Last weekend was a really great experience for us the Zazamazu's. We went to Mount Hotham Ski Resort. It was an awesome adventure but in Gel's words 'EXTREME'. Apart from the family there were 9 others . Iqbal the organizer/chief of the tribe, Suhayl the Jester with Hanom as sidekick/bik, Aina and sister Eli (i might gotten the name wrong) - Zuber sisters lah senang, Pyan the talented architect(direct words from Fariz Helmi) with wife Wani, and the ever good looking couple Jel and Eza.

Seeing that none of us had ever been to Mt Hotham (which is considered a more luxurious ski resort in Victoria comparatively) we (80% of it was from Iqbal's effort) did a lot of research and planning for the trip. Siap buat meetings and tons of email. It paid off cause if we didn't it wont be enjoyable or safe enough. Extreme lah katakan (yes.. your gonna see a lot of the word 'extreme'). First and for most... it took us 6-7 hours drive to the hotel/apartment. Extreme tak.. especially arriving at 230am. In my case, I took a half day and started in the rented car at 230pm so I was really tired after all that time in the car. Had to pickup everybody - wife (port melbourne), kids (Ormond), Gel(Heidelberg) and Eza (Doncaster). The drive was also a little stressful cause we had to rush and reach the bottom of the mountain before 12 midnight to get the snow chains at a rental shop. It's against the law to go up without chains in the car. Good reason too... you wont get anywhere without it.. being stuck and slippery... dangerous too.

The drive up was really scary. It was late, dark, slippery, snowing, windy and extremely foggy. Horror pikir balik. I wouldnt want to do it anytime soon. You know the feeling of slipping and sliding during brakes and turnings.. well we got a lot of that dah lah ngantuk giler (jeles dengar budak dengkur baik kat belakang) at the time. Plus the sesat and slow drive... adventure giler.

So after what seemed like ages, we reached Lawlers Apartment. The best located Apartment I believe in the whole resort - Good choice Iqbal. You can literally ski all the way down from the front doorstep. But the sucky thing was that booking only one apartment we got only one parking spot. So the other van had to park 3 km's down the road (thanks pyan for doing that). Traveling in snow, even a meter seems far. Unloading the stuff into the apartment was also considered a tough task. Everything seems harder and heavier especially walking up hill.

Once everybody was safe and sound in the apartment. We had snacks to get back our energy. The apartment was old but it was very well maintained. It has everything... even washers and dryers. Good cause we plan to cook and everything. So after settling in we slept while dreaming of snowboarding the next day.

Early in the morning, I was excited although with 3 hours sleep. Can't wait to play snow. So being a strategist that I am, I made sure I played with the kids first before I have my own snowboarding time. We made a few snow man and played with the sledges or known here as trabugan (or something that sounds like that). The kids didn't last long in the cold maybe abour 30-60 minutes only at a time. Maybe cause I didn't get them proper gear. Sorry. But I think they didn't mind. They had heaps of fun nonetheless. Ohh.. the frustrating thing about the whole thing was sometimes it took us longer to get dressed/undressed than to actually be outside.

So after some quality time with the family, I had some quality time with the snowboard. I ABSOLUTELY love to snowboard. It was the best thing that I did and most missed when I was in NY. When we were in the states, we went snowboarding every winter.. we even went all the way to Aspen, Colorado the Beverly Hills of snow. So after strapping up the board, I was super excited. Didn't even wait for the other guys. Sorry friends. I bought the lift tickets and down I went. What a feeling especially I found out I can still snowboard after 6-7 years on being dormant. AAAHHHH the feeling of freedom and rush. Wosshh Wissshhh going sideways feeling like a seasoned boarder.. best gilerrr!! but then KEDEBAPPP!!! Now I remember how much it hurts.... But I loved it and kept going for several rounds.

The trails were pretty hard, steep, fast and narrow in compared to the ones I have been to but it was still manageable. You tend to get lost too cause of the various branches of trails and more sky lifts than I can count. Another thing worth mentioning is that Mount Hotham Ski resort is on top of the mountain while most other resorts are bottom based. So getting to the right spot you started was also an adventure. It took me an hour to find the right trail (extreme lagi). Yup being lost and all I sometimes end up in the hard trails (black diamonds category). Thats when I tend to KEDEBAPPP most and learn to read the signs more diligently. Unable to see past 10 meters due to the snow storm wasn't helpful too. But the best thing of all was the snow was super fresh and powdery.

After all the snow play, everybody was exhausted. We didn't really do much that night apart from sharing stories, healing and feeding. Lots of bruises and aches. One story involved was about a run away snowboard. Apparently Iqbal lost and watch his snowboard fall into the bushes with despair. What bad luck... he has been unlucky the whole trip. Another story involves getting the snow patrol in a minor rescue mission but lets keep that confidential.

Moving to the next day, we played with snow again ... it was fresher due to the storm on thats still going on. After the play, I had to get the van. It took forever to get it. Had to get the shuttle bus to get to the car park. Rasa macam kat Alaska cause nobody else was around. Shoveling snow with my legs and fitting the snow chains was no easy task. After getting the van... we loaded our luggage on off we went home. The drive back was still a little scary but at least there were more cars on the road and we can actually see whats over the cliff. The astonishing thing was when we descended there wasn't any snow suddenly.. passed that snow barrier thing. The rest of the drive was nice but still we were cautious of the 'black ice' thing.

After the drive, we reached home around 5pm ample time to rilex for the coming week. I sent the rental van in the city and enjoyed my train ride home replaying the snowboard and snow experience feeling satisfied with the adventure.

If you realize I havent mention the cost of anything cause it was truly madly deeply expensive. It was more expensive than Aspen I reckon. But playing snow is priceless.

ps... so Zareef jangan cakap ayah tipu.. there is snow in Australia!!

Whats up indeed!!

2010-08-03T12:30:00.009+08:00

Just had a conversation with a very dear friend (AZ) yesterday. I have always enjoyed our conversations (dah lah I found out dia start pergi Gym - that SOB dulu ajak jalan ke canteen pun malas). It somehow rekindles what I'm missing.Trust and bonded friendship which is build by years and years of putting up with each other. So to maintain that link I reckon we should swap stories in a way to catch up. So this is my part of sharing. Hope those who read will comment with theirs.

1. My birthday celebration - very modest with just the family celebrating. I quote Bo's post on my FB wall - "selalunya kita celebrate pergi dinner ke ape but kali ni ..... " Saja je nak bagi sedih but we did have cake. In actual fact we had 4 cup cakes. My self chosen/ordered present is still in the mail - bila lah nak dapat ni (I will definately write on it when I get it - lagi excited lagi lah lambat). Later that week, Gel and Eza visited us and we found out EZA and my birthday are close so the wife baked a cake. Unfortunately we had no candle so I downloaded a candle Iphone apps. To our surprise it worked - everytime you blow on it the flame does go out. Kids were happy and we were amazed on the power of Iphone apps.

2. We had other friends coming over which is always a delight. This time its Farah and Faiz. Brilliant TNB scholars.. pun intended. They are such a nice couple not to mention helpful. They were there to help us from the airport, give tips on everything, letting us use their address etc etc and we do very much appreciate it.

3. Melbourne Zoo - We taught that without seeing any koala's, kangaroos, wombats it doesnt mean much being in Oz. The day we went was a beautiful day although considered to be winter. The zoo is just 30minutes away. North of the city so the travel wasnt taxing either. All in all everybody had a good time. Kids love to see the animals. I took some really nice pictures. The wife enjoyed the nice weather. We were just a little disappointed cause most of the animals were sleeping and not animated at all. "tidurrr jeee animals ni.. boringlah" said Zareef. Another thing to add, the zoo was really beautiful. You can see ppl bringing in food and having picnics and all. Fantastic!! Oh yeah.. we found out what a wombat and wallaby look like. We loved the wombat cause it reminded us of "Ewok". Comel giler dah lah slow jalan.

4. Doing everything ourselves can be tiring. So we started to teach the kids to help out around the house. I hope this doesnt count as child labour.

5. Started meeting new friends. Linda was nice to have us for lunch. Shes into scrap booking just like the wifey. Baguslah ada gang. She has a son too near Zareefs age. She has a beautiful family and home. Dah lah dekat gak rumah diorang.

6. Went to Philip Island down south east of Victoria. Took us about 2-3 hours drive (the car engine went colder the more we drove cause of the cold air - power giler kereter merah kitorang). Lawa and very scenic. Went to the town (laid back near the beach), the wild life park (where u can feed the animals - went there cause kecewa ngan zoo the previous week or so), the nobis centre (cantik gilerrr with the rocks and tides), the penguin parade (tapi takde penguin - diorang naik malam. heard they come in the thousands) and the GP motor circuit. All in all, it was a beautiful place and a pleasant day trip. One thing about the wildlife park... the animals are over friendly sampai this emu nearly sprayed you know what at Zara. Dah lah bontot dia higher than Zara. Scary. Oh yeahh... there were $h!t all over the place but somehow it didnt smell bad just looked disgusting.

7 Mt Hotham. A ski resort up in the Victorian Alps. I would like to write more about this cause a special entry is needed with all the experience we had. But here are a few preliminary pics.

So thats a little bit on whats been going on in our lives. I hope this answers the calling of family/friends to update our blog. Till next time - Wasalam /Gday Mates

Nak makan?? Tara hall nya!!

2010-07-17T03:57:00.005+08:00

Dear family and friends (I start the post with this cause we miss them dearly),

Most ppl are always worried about finding food when traveling/moving abroad. It's never been a problem for me personally. Coming from a guy who ate nasi+kicap+telur dadar (occasional sardin tin) for a week and a half without complain (not by choice but by financial reasons).

My wife and me are always adventurous when trying new food or places - can ask Shahrul (eats anything he thinks wont make him fat.. I emphasize "thinks") or Wafi (eats everything THAT does make him fat except chicken skin[case of overdose when he was a kid - macam obelix dalam comic asterix]). The kids however are choosey but add sugar in it and they'll be fine. We know sometimes we miss our local dishes and home cook meal (terliur jap pikir asam pedas and sotong hitam) but fortunately we can find dishes that brings us back home and hit the target. Here's a pic of nasi lemak and nasi ayam when we had lunch with our adopted Malaysian-Canadian friend Grant (thanks for bringing us although we got lost most of the time):

I promise you its authentic as you can expect. It better be when I see the prices they charge with what I used to pay at the warung tepi jalan (but i'd rather have the REALL authentic makcik kampung style food - by far).

So apart from being all nostalgic and hitting the spot, I would like to introduce/expose these food to the kids. I dont want them to lose out on an integral part of our culture - YEss the food. So heres a pic of them having bubur cha cha and bubur hitam. Sedap giler this one cause its freshly ~ sort of home cook made. Nothing like the ones I used to buy at the pasar malam - macam nak basi and cold and tawar.

A little bit more on the cuisine, it is so popular even the best part of Melbourne Zoo has an Indonesian warung (pic above). So if indeed rindu sangat nak makan, I might just be thinking of opening a restaurant (kalau ada rezeki). So Haziq (our family chef in training), sharpen your skills/talent cause this might be an interesting possibility.

Stats of Paul der Krake aka Paul Oktopus/Octupus

2010-07-11T05:34:00.008+08:00

The world cup is at its peak (finals) now and apparently all sorts of predictions were proven wrong ala Shabby Singh. Recently the hype about an octopus called paul predictions is the talk of the footballing world. People talk about it more than Carlos Puyol rare goal headers, Anelka's manners or ronaldo's hairstyle. Well if you can get the stats the octopus gets, you might get a Tan Sri-ship in Malaysia not mentioning making a lot of people filthy richhh. Those who are really involve in the betting market are also paying close attention not to mention the Spain PM offering protection for the poor thing after several on dish threat. Even Argentine Chef celebs are posting recipes on facebook. If he was human... he could own Apple, Coke Ikea etc etc...

So here are his stats I took from Wiki. Amazing innit!!!

Opponent	Tournament	Stage	Date	Prediction	Result	Outcome
Poland	Euro 2008	group stage	8 June 2008	Germany	2–0	Correct
Croatia	Euro 2008	group stage	12 June 2008	Germany^[3]^[8]	1–2	Incorrect
Austria	Euro 2008	group stage	16 June 2008	Germany	1–0	Correct
Portugal	Euro 2008	quarter-finals	19 June 2008	Germany	3–2	Correct
Turkey	Euro 2008	semi-finals	25 June 2008	Germany	3–2	Correct
Spain	Euro 2008	final	29 June 2008	Germany^[3]	0–1	Incorrect
Australia	World Cup 2010	group stage	13 June 2010	Germany^[25]	4–0	Correct
Serbia	World Cup 2010	group stage	18 June 2010	Serbia^[25]	0–1	Correct
Ghana	World Cup 2010	group stage	23 June 2010	Germany^[25]	1–0	Correct
England	World Cup 2010	round of 16	27 June 2010	Germany^[26]	4–1	Correct
Argentina	World Cup 2010	quarter-finals	3 July 2010	Germany^[17]	4–0	Correct
Spain	World Cup 2010	semi-finals	7 July 2010	Spain^[27]	0–1	Correct
Uruguay	World Cup 2010	3rd place play-off	10 July 2010	Germany	3–2	Correct

Some wise footballing words from a true master

2010-07-07T06:07:00.006+08:00

The much debated jambulani ball in the world cup is a hot topic. But it isnt an excuse in my personal opinion. And I have always wanted to see what a true master of a kicker can do with it. The best free kick taker in my opion has always been juninho palamwnsjhdhdd (or something like that) brazil/lyon. He is good at all types of free kicks. The dipping, the bending, power shot, placing.. Short and long ranges. Definately better than beckham or cr9.

So here's what he said about it in soccernet:

Juninho also said that, while he is disappointed by the quality of performances in South Africa, the much-maligned Jabulani ball is not to blame. "I bought one and I went to test it," he said. "The ball requires a little practice, but it's delicious. It's a poor excuse."

Apart from the official messing up/video officiating debate the only let down is the ball in this worldcup I reckon. So here's just what I think and my favorite free kick taker.

ps.. I do think zee germans had an advantage using this ball a few months in the bundesliga.

Summary for the past month or so

2010-07-06T06:13:00.014+08:00

Hello family and friends. Several people wanted me to update the blog. I apologize for being lazy about it. Will put more effort in the future. The official reason being new and trying to settle in (doing everything ourselves, starting a new job, exploring and experimenting) but I have to admit I would rather catch up on my recorded world cup games ( I love foxtel IQ - besttt.. boleh record the whole series semua, lagi best kalau dapat upgrade to HD - $200 jeeee kan sayang). Still trying to win the furniture vs. foxtel priority merit. Talking about furniture... we still need a few more but at least we are not lying on the cold floor that much.

So what have we done so far?? better start the Iphoto (our way of recording events via pics) to get a timeline/storyline.

Here's a few highlights in no particular order:

Soaking up the culture . Knowingly we are going to stay here a while we had to learn to adapt. So we are slowly following traditions and fascinations they have. Zareef soaked in the red nose day well.
overbilling/over-system. I'm starting to hate the charges they make u pay cause it's so expensive and we still don't know what's right and wrong in the billings/system. Hate the complexing of simple things. Bureaucracy is a different level than what i'm used to. But the golden rule still apply - bugger them until u get what u want.
the prime minister changed. Macam takde impact je. Semua buat dunno je. Kitorang lagilah dunno. pasal apa thailand tak buat macam ni. Negara kita jgn cakap lah, lepas najib i bet it will be hishamudin. so predictable and change resistance.

zareefs birthday. Not our traditional big celebration but he was happy with his devastator besar. Costs a bomb and have always wanted to buy it for him. Every week we went to gymbo bangsar he would insist to stop by at toys r us to play with devastator. So i promised when I get a good job here i'll buy him one. Now his going on about a bicycle. Kids nowadays dont know when to stop asking.

exploring. Went to several great beaches. Brighton and st. Kilda was beautiful but cold so just played at the playgrounds and walking. Took pics with the iphone.. camera tertinggal lah selalu cause impromptu visits (about 5-10 minutes drive) and prime lens yg diidamkan tak terbeli lagi. The kids frust tak main air. Mandi sejuk sikit complain tapi nak terjun icy water. Ingat port dickson ke ?
sale. Stocktake sale end of the financial year sale. A lot of things went cheaper. Unfortunately gaji takde so berangan je lah. Surprisingly after the sales gone i reckon prices went higher than the original. Lesson learned don't wait when u see a good deal.

Daycare. Zareefs fine apart from a few fights and one accident poop (had to come back from work to handle that). He really loves it but the sad thing Zara can't go to the same daycare cause limited spots. So Zara is going alone to another daycare. She hates ittttt!!! Phobia giler. She won't stop crying kalau tahu nak pegi. Breaks our hearts to see her like that. It gets worst when we come to pick her up we can hear her crying from the parking. She gets upset when other kids start going home. Hang in there baby girl.
jobs. I love the locations of our offices. Right in the Cbd. We are only 5 minute walk away across the river from each other. Boleh lunch sama2. It's the scenic part of the city beside the river bank. Aquarium and casino right across the street for me. Main train station 3 minute walk for wifey and 7 for me.

started playing football. Only one game but enough to make me happy for the week cause I scored a screamer. Ala forlan. So slowly starting to make friends (Ppl are nicer here than it was in NY). Unfortunately the majority of melbournians are more into footie although they have this big jom-bo-yani ball right across from the office.

had friends over. Since the pinggan mangkuk cukup baru booleh Ajak. will invite more when they can spare the time. Masak je lah problem. Nak masak western tak pandai sangat.. nak masak mesian tak terror. Order pizza jelah. Pizza flavored satay, tandoori, sushi semua ada.

Enjoying the weather - Although its winter it isnt as cold as we expected. Tak macam kat NY that snowed 5 months of the year. Kids are ok with it and sometimes u get really nice weather in the betweens and would just like to stay outside. We are trying to persuade Zareef to do his painting on the balcony when its nice outside.. kononnya cari ilham but actually tak nak bagi dia buat sepah.

dishwasher terbakar/smoking. Tak pandai load dishwasher sampai jatuh senduk plastic kena the heating filamen. Being lazy and overloading it might be the reason. Sian the family had to wait outside in the cold before the smoke/smell cleared. It still smells burnt after use now cause i tried to rub the plastic off but it wont completely come off. Just a small reminder that anything can happen.

So thats about it. Boring kan? On a tight budget so duduk diam2 lah tengok bola and minum teh panas. Next time the plan is to go snowboarding (11 ppl or so) and travel to some islands here. Hope to get that nice camera lens before we do. Tak jauh by Aussie standard but still at least a couple of hundred kms. Hope the car can pull through especially on top of the snowy mountains.

Talk to you later matesss!!!

French toast, french fries etc etc

2010-06-23T05:44:00.005+08:00

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh tension gua. Bengong nya French football team. Buat malu and malu and tambah malu. Whyyy so spoilt and mengada2. Main bola pun susah ke. Main je ah sungguh2. Kalah takpe asalkan u did it professionally. Eeeeiiii memang rasa nak headbutt je sekor2.

I dont know who to blame and for what reasons cause there are so many and I am just so frustated:-

Henry - handball last qualifying jadi tak berkat.
Anelka - main ejek mak lak. dah kau tak efficient kena ah sub. terima ah kau tak deliverr
Evra - tak charisma langsung jadi leader.
FFF - politics and publicity je tahu. hampeeehh!!
Dominic - all the above. baik awal2 lah kau retire. lame duck!!

I can accept they sux but this is just plain embarrassing at the highest level.

Balik masak french toast lahh!!!!!!

ps... going into the world cup i always knew it was a fools hope to support france. Loyal and kenangan Zidane lah ni. I dont think i will supporting france anytime soon.

The ozzy dream part 4

2010-06-08T05:46:00.007+08:00

With Jel's batman mobile we had a chance to view houses. The general rule is to know which suburb you want to move into. Then find a real estate agent in the area or check out several sites like domain.com.au or realestate.com.au where all the owners and real estate agent advertises. Choosing a suburb was not an easy task cause its really important for registering schools, upbringing of kids, groceries, safety and public transport. Ohh... melbourne suburbs are enormous although the city (CBD = central business district) is small. Reading somewhere that the best suburbs are located south east of Melbourne we focused generally there which I believe is a good idea. Its nearer to the beach, several shopping areas and good schools. The only downside is that most Muslim community and schools are up north.

The house hunting task was enjoyable if you weren't in a hurry like us. Its nice to inspect all the houses and neighborhoods. Some are realllyyy nice but a few rundowns. The agents wont even layan if you havent inspect the houses and the inspections are on a schedule. Sometimes when you view houses there would be like 10 others just like you. So our strategy was to offer 3 months advance payment to up our bid being jobless, new and all. It worked perfectly. The agent taught us a few tricks to sweeten the deal like writing a cover letter, informing that we still owned a house back home, submitting our bank statement and extra collateral. Alhamdulillah God helped us cause we got the first house we viewed (we viewed more than 15 houses) and applied (applied 2 and got both... baru nak apply yang lain tapi agent dah confirm kata dapat). Its our 2nd choice out of all the houses we viewed but we really love the house. Its been nearly 3 weeks and we still love it just that we wished more furniture but that can wait until we paid all the debts as for now we are all set. We also think we made the right choice by seeing the lovely comments on the pics on facebook.

After a few days with Jel's bat mobile we started to feel guilty (Kesian Jel siap naik bas pergi kerja for a few days. Thanks bro) and rented our own car. A nice blue Mitsubishi gallant. Zareef suka giler kata macam transformers. Semua kereta kilat and baru dia cakap transformers. The plan was to rent for a couple of days (to beli perabot and stuff for the new house) but we ended up renting it for a whole week. I calculated on the 4th day that the weekly rates were cheaper with the renting of the baby seats and all. Yes you have to rent baby seats for kids below 7. Serious giler about the rules again and the baby seats for jenis yang bolt to the back seat sandar tu.

So apart from 'tengok2 je' from one shopping mall to another, we took the chance to visit several playgrounds, St kilda beach, riverside and travel in the city. Sometimes we got lost but its all fun (thanks jel for the GPS.. tapi kadang2 argue gak ngan info gps ni) cause you explore more when you get lost. Another thing, everybody here has a Melway book. Its a big directory and maps and sometimes you look up a address in sites or booklets you see them referring it to Melway pg X and grid Y. Compulsory to have but it'll cause you $50. We love it cause its soooo detailed.

After the week is up we had to return the car and its back to the public transport. Before doing that we pretty much covered what needed to be done. We even tried to find a car way up in Carworld, Richmond (about an hours drive). Its like 10 dealers joined together to set up the place. Big and various of cars but we didnt get one cause convincing the ladies was not an easy task. Maybe it was for the better cause I was rushing it. Hate to move around with the kids on public transport. Zareef suka sangat buat perangai especially when Zara joins in. Tension and embarrassed in front of people. But we survived and alhmadulillah we had recently got our car.

About shopping a few tips on what we learned. All the washer, dryers fridge i think the cheapest place is Good Guys (first hand) cause they give 60days guarantee if you find it cheaper anywhere they will pay you the difference. Siap kalau bayar cash dapat discount (macam kat mesia) but tech stuff like TV's rasanya Dick's lagi murah. Baju2 simple you should try Big W, Target and K-Mart. Perabot seperit biasa Ikea. Groceries kat Coles and Safeway (macam giant and tesco). Dont buy a mobile phone if you plan to get a post paid plan instead sign up and ask for a phone and you have to top up a little per month. We got an iphone each (always wanted one) with telstra cause kitorang amik home bundle package and it comes cheaper and intercalls are free. So our Mobile, Foxtel (macam astro), Land line and Bigpond (macam streamyx) semua under Telstra. Figuring out what company/brands and packages was hard especially dia ada lock-in contract semua. So just something to share and we might not be so optimal in our choices.

About the car, our very very very helpful (just ask anything and he makes sure we settled in well in every way) Sri lankan neighbor (we really like the guy + family) introduced a friend who was a mechanic (sri lankan too) and got us a nice red nissan pulsar. Its cheap and runs very smoothly just the inside looks really old. Bought our baby car seats, registered with VicRoad and were are all set. Even got it insured over the phone although I havent paid anything yet. Senang asalkan bayar bak kata Jel.

So the only thing left to do is put the kids in daycare which is costing us a bomb but good to know the Centrelink will be paying nearly half (jobless lah katakan). Maz has already started working so at least ada income lepas ni.. takdelah bleeding cash and I can stop being so kedekut. After Zareef goes to school (very near the train station that we will be using everyday) the worldcup will start. All in perfect timing. Zara will still be at home until I confirmed a job. Insyallah I will hear the confirmation soon from SPausnet. Met the boss (his from PJ.. small world huh) and he said he is recommending me and I have to wait to be called for the medicals. Insyallah everything will turn out fine. We will work hard for it and tawakal saja pada tuhan. Insyallah.

So thats about it. Any questions you are free to fire away. Sebab ada kawan tu tanya awek2 kat sini cun tak and my answer is Yessss!!! ada banyak variations and stylo2 especially dekat city but whatever it is I think Maz paling cun lah.

The ozzy dream part 3

2010-06-04T13:54:00.006+08:00

Where was I... oh yeah kerja giler datang negara orang takde kerja and takde rumah. So what we did was go all out with the settling down thing and we were very lucky/thankful that we had superb helpful friends = farah, Idwal, Jel & Sheri. From borrowing cars, teaching how to move around publicly to tumpang address untuk register semua... they helped out as in the best of their abilities. Thanks guys from the bottom of our hearts.

A little bit more on Malaysian Hall before moving to other things. Once we got to know a little more about the people they kinda warmed up tapi still kinda reserved jenis takut orang mintak tolong lebih2 kinda thing. So a few days later we found out yang sebenarnya ada internet kat hall (after trying to join the permanent residence network - they gave me "ask the ustad cause ni untuk permanent je") I asked the ustad about being online. Dia kata ada tapi kat depan ni je (patutlah takde signal dalam bilik and of course we didnt try in the freezing living room) and the password dia bagi dalam bentuk teka-teki which was "password dia adalah rukun negara ke empat... haa jawablah". Either he was being a smart-alec or testing my nationality but it really rubbed me the wrong way. Anyways after finally being online baru senang sikit nak buat benda lain especially cari rumah which was our main priority mau2 tahu nak kena halau very soon. Soon we were spending a lot of time in the living room which was next to the dining area and where the permanents normally had their dinner. Which looked awesome and stuff. Really wished we could join them not having a car and trouble finding food and stuff.

A few days passed and being friendly paid off especially masa I ikut sekali tahlil. Terus senang sikit mintak info and stuff. That is when I asked nicely the ustad and he said he can extend our stay to another week and we should join the dinner plan. The first best thing that happened to us in Oz. We only paid $7 per head for dinner and the food is absolutly fantastic. Masakan malaysia and pelbagai. Me being not so worried after the extension stay ate like a cow. Sedap gilerrr!! terliur pikir balik. The students at hall gets a really good deal. Another interesting part the hall had just recently been extended. Although kitorang dicampakkan kat tempat lama (horror and senang hilang) the new wing is really nice and modern. Siap lampu pakai sensor kalau nak on and the built in sink drinkable hot water. Magic kata zareef. Punyalah modern the TV automatically turns on every early morning. I realize the chinese news channel every morning masa nak amik air sembahyang.

We had a lottt of things to be done. Macam2 peraturan lah kat sini and extra complicated cause its a whole new system. Example ehh.. kalau kita nak top up prepaid kita register and top-up and straight away guna. Sini kena pilih package from like 10 choices and nama2 pelik and charges giler beza mauttt!! I think we choose wrongly cause less than 2 days our $30 credit habis and paling shocking the standard rates from mobil to mobil is like 90cents a minute siap connection fee semua. Giler mahal and saja nak complexkan benda yg tak complex. Tu baru phone not medicare, family assistance, tax, centrelink but we had to learn it fast. Still learning but once you see the procedures its really good and stuff. The only thing is that when you figure out what to do, doing it is easy. Just a call or apply online and stuff but like what Idwal said when you get started its like the chicken and egg thing. Example to rent a house you should have a good testimony from your previous landlord/agent. How can you that if your new. Not only that you should have referees. Kinda hard if you dont know anybody and to apply for a post paid phone you should have a permanent address and all that. Its actually good but very tedious but once your all settle down its real easy.

Aaahh.. another little shock we had was comparing things to the states. We always kinda ass-u-me it would be like the states but not really. Things are more expensive here. You dont have fast food everywhere for starters. The system is also different. Like I said I am pro american system and i believe its a lot easier in the states. Example in the states you can buy calling cards at every corner to call Mesia but here I have yet to find any instead they have service providers (Lebara macam digi) that has great rates 1cent per minute to Mesian fix lines.

Enough of the compare and learn thing. Knowingly it was a near impossible task to find houses without a car, Jel was real nice to lend his car a few days to us. A nice sporty car one which can only fit 2 people. MR2 i think. Ohhh driving in Melbourne is weird. Hook turn = you have to keep left to turn right. Dont believe me look it up. The trams in the middle of the roads are also tricky. Sometimes we share roads, sometimes we dont. It goes with the bicycles as well. They have trafic lights for trams, cars and bicycle. They split roads and to turn left you would have to choose the right lane 1km back and certain lanes go different directions based on the rush hour. Sounds daunting. It is but it works and makes everything convenient, reliable, efficient and safe.

Oh no.. the batteries are running out. Will write more tomorrow. Till then come on socerroos and les blues. Keep an eye on Benzema

The ozzy dream part 2

2010-05-31T18:14:00.006+08:00

Okk.. this entry is a one of a kind. Its describing our adventures moving to Oz and I hope we like it so much here we are not moving anywhere else. Insyallah/God permit.

So lets start off with the flight. We are really glad we choose MAS instead of Air Asia. Our luggage was about 21kg overweight cause our IMAC box handle broke off (intended to be carry on - tawakal je lah IMAC selamat check-in) but the counter staff just brushed it off and didnt ask us to pay anything. He even had a separate handling box for our fragile IMAC box. This might be due the mother-in-law chattering away at him non-stop. Either we was kind hearted or didnt want any trouble from MIL. I might be biased but I think air asia wont be so nice especially when the extra income goes back to the staffs.

The flight itself was punctual and smooth as zara's bottom. It was about 70% full and being Malaysian and with kids the stewards was really accomodating and moved me and zareef the better empty seats with kids meal/toys and all. We were worried the kids will act out and stuff in the plane but syukur they slept not to soon after take-off but zareef sempat lagi layan avatar movie. The adults on the other hand didnt sleep as well. So when we touched down everybody was a little groggy and grumpy. The kids cause kacau tidur and the adults lack of sleep.

Our flight was really early at about 7am so the luggage claim was easy. Took us less than 5 minutes. The only porblem was that we had to get our IMAC at a special fragile counter. Ohh I forgot to mention the airport (Tullamarine) was small and a little old not like our KLIA but somehow it was kinda busy. Watching Australian Borders on Discovery we were expecting really tight checks on our luggage. With the posters on the walls and stuff (even certain animal products like untreated belts and boomerang from certain wood) telling what can and cannot be allowed made us a little anxious. But everything went well at the checks apart from suspicious baby wipes in our IMAC box. They were worried cause it was wet and all.

So as we walked off, we were greated by the ever-happy-go lucky Farah Clayton/Kenyir. She was there with ever-macho bf Faiz. Nice couple.

*iklan penting = as I am writing this, Maz got a call from HR confirming her to start work this Monday (7/6/10). Alhamdulillah.. looks like I lost a bet with her and sapa lambat dapat kerja kena belanja makan*

So back to the story (after the big syukur/happy/congrats family group hug). Farah was really nice enough to cook us breakfast. Mee-hoon goreng terbaik and lots of it i might say. Sampai malam tu tak habis2 lagi. Along with the mee-hoon she introduced us a sambal udang kering in a jar which sampai sekarang kitorang makan (as ganti of our sambal belacan). So we had breakfast at the airport with hot chocolate (minuman panas time sejuk memang layan) grabbed a maxi-taxi (big wagon) and headed to Malaysian hall. Although the maxi-cab was huge diorang particular on the number of passengers, child seat and all so the MIL had to tag along in Faiz's borrowed car. The ride took us along the City-link. Macam Plus kita lah tapi highway kita berkali ganda lagi cantik but fewer lanes. So u have to have the City link pass like our Smart-Tag tapi diorang takyah pakai toll booth, its just mounted on steel beams like signboards. So those yang takde City link pass pun can still use it but have to call within 3 days to pay kalau tak saman banyak giler. Kesimpulannya takyah lah berjuta2 spend buat tol and pandai2 lah kalau nak guna highway ni beli lah pass dia and be honest and pay for what you use.

Lesson 1 in Oz, its all about rules and people follow rules cause the penalty is severe. Ohh yeah they penalize you every chance they get just like any other business. So honesty does pay off and you wouldnt feel like a chump doing so.

So when we reached Malaysian Hall, at first sight it looked kinda small as do all other oz houses but actually its huge. The houses arent very wide but its volume comes from its length. Smarter I think cause less roads and normally they are several other houses behind connected to the driveway. Malaysian Hall is situated near the city/CBD (tram ride takes 10-15 minutes but about 30minutes to the airport) and I believe has more than 40 rooms, surau, living room, kitchen etc...Seriously its huge but really cold. Takde central heating. Ohhh the tandas is reallllllllyyyyy cold. pikir 10 kali nak tahan or not... mau2 task yg kena duduk.

I want to go into details about Malaysian Hall cause I think it would be helpful for others. Its reallllyyy cheap $12 for non-students and $4 for undergrades and $6 for postgrades a day. You wouldnt get a better deal than that in Melbourne (it is a very expensive city even more expensive than NY city i feel.. i feel lahh but i have been to NYC more than 20 times). Because we were non-students and temporary stay the people they were not as friendly as I hope they would not all but once you get involved with them and all that they were kinda nice.

The assistant warden (Ustad Hasnizul) was the person in charge at the hall. Although he was ok but at first I would think he would be more helpful (jenis kalau tanya baru jawab). The first day we were there he knew that kitorang takde heater and said nanti dia tolong.. to cut the story short we slept with more than a few layers on (although Idwal ada pinjamkan heater kecik satu - life saver). Internet pun takde... this one really stressed us out cause we had a lot of errands to run and everything is online. So the following day, pitying the children and MIL asked the ustad about the heater, he asked me to take it from the empty rooms upstairs. To my surprise the heaters were huge, old and berlambak kat empty rooms tu. Sejuk malam tak hilang dari hati yg panas time tu. Another issue with the ustad, I told him that although kitorang diluluskan 5 hari stay he said previously we can extend our stay if there werent fully booked. The place was really empty but he was really hesitant to extend our stay being non-student (the was also an officer from sydney i met at the parking lot acting bagus/stuck-up and say the place was in demand and told me to get a house soon b- i thought i had ran away from ppl like this). This really hightened the pressure on me personally... tak tidur and makan tak lalu etc. Pikir balik giler datang sini rumah takde and kerja takde bawak anak bini lepas tu tak lama lagi kena halau. Stresss giler time tu. If it was just me I wouldnt mind so much, with the kids it was really worrying.

Living from out of the bags. Please not the heater in the background.

I would like to end the entry here hanging....will continue soon.. sekarang i want to peak the wifes offer letter, nak tengok gaji dia beraper. Berahsia betul dia. All in good fun

The life changing letter from Esso Australia Pty Ltd

The ozzy dream part 1

2010-05-31T05:17:00.004+08:00

Note: Another long entry with parts cause i dont want to leave anything out.

We have always wanted to work overseas since we got back studying from the states. Realizing my US student allowances being more than my salary kinda gave me a reality check. USD700 vs RM1900. It took me more than 4 years increment to get the same amount when I was a student. What a system right especially when there is a 7 year bond mounting to RM700K cancellation fees. Knowing about the price tag 4 years after the deal was another 'great' feeling. Kalah Along Bukit Beruntung!

So I studied every possible way to find a better life for the family. Invested here and there. But nothing "cash cow" especially with low capital. Risk and reward lah katakan. So decided that I should find an avenue about migrating. Being American educated and pro america (except the stupid politics and scandals..oh and its non-metric system) it was our first choice but its just too hard to get a green card. So in the end I researched Ozland which was found very wanting. I even went to an agent way back in 2007. Doing the math and timeline (bond is up in sept 2010) I decided to postpone a year or so and decide later.

Nearly a year later, the wife was FB-ing with a friend who just migrated to Perth. Her name is Sheri . After a few nudges towards the door by her the wife was all excited and asked me seriously what I think about it. Of course I was all for it, I just need to time it well as not to pay the bond I told her. So it was decided then we were moving to Ozland. Kinda knowing the timeline of the whole process and having extra cash we started lodging in Dec 2008 (I can still remember the first day I was assessed by the agents and how broke i felt afterwards).

There were ups and downs to the process. Leceh betull but the end justify the means. Had to take IELTS (result = very competant in English), medical, resumes, paperwork, translations etc etc.. and the most feared is the police checks both in Malaysia and the US. I was a little worried that my troubles in the states was in the record but alhamdulillah everything was A ok!! Just a little broke after the whole thing. It cost around RM18k-20k. After i found out that it cost more here in Oz I was a little happier.

So we heard the good news in February. Went crazy with happiness but then I realized the whole stabilizing thing has to be started again. But with hightened spirits, we embraced the adventure and challenge. Told the family and friends the good news. Bought the family one way ticket and made several arrangements. Next you know it we were at the airport flying away leaving everything behind.

Note: This part is a bit boring more on Oz to come. stay tuned. Have to go adventure out to find groceries now.

ps.. our house is still up for sale or rent

Leaving

2010-05-30T05:09:00.008+08:00

Hello everybody. Its been a while since I wrote anything. Been busy migrating. No biggy just leaving everything behind. The family, the friends, the house, the car, the job, the weather... really everything apart from luggage allowed on the plane (not much by the way: 20kg max per person and the bags itself is about 5kg). Opps I forgot to include the wife and the kids... yeahh they are luggage for life in a +ve kind of way.

So before its lost in my memories I want to write and share pics about leaving before i wrote about our adventure in our new home city = Melbourne, Oz which btw is really beautiful and "da besttt!!". So before leaving "tanah tumpahnya darahku" we all made a point to meet everybody saying goodbyes and do as much activity possible with everybody. This includes karaokes, picnic by the river, futsal, family gathering, dinners and so forth.

We were really touched about the support we got about our migration (apan was the only guy with negativity - just his nature and said that i should be a cleaner here) especially the family. My mom and dad were supportive and understood our reasons well. I will always remember my moms first respond "baguslah muda2 cari rezeki.. nanti dah lambat susah". It was enough for me to go all out.

One thing I realized the young people were really intrigued of the idea of migrating while the old were really conserved about it. But what really touched me personally was people were sad that we were leaving especially closed shah alam friends and AZ (apa taknya... every other day lepak sama2 and we help each other in every possible way) but really understand that we are leaving to make a better life for ourselves and wish us well in doing so. So for that I thank every one of you. Sekarang dah jauh2 and kinda lonely (too much kids time and not enough adult time) you kinda feel nostalgic. So enough of the emo stuff, here are some pics and briefs description

At the airport. A lot of people came to see us off and say goodbyes. The wife was a little emotional and cried a bit. Its very understandable. Thank you everybody that came. It means a lot. Siap sempat main monopoly deal lagi lepas tu wafi lak boleh menang... frust.

NATS futsal family. Yes its a family. We have known each other for more than a decade. We meet every week and play our hearts out. Punya lah semangat we even have a blog and seasonal tourny. check it out at nats.blogspot.com. Anyways really nice of u to give me that "comel" Jom-bo-yani football. cool giler.

Our farewell dinner at serai seksyen 3. It was a very memorable dinner. really felt sad about leaving cause so many turned up not to mention that we are very close. I quote wafi's mom " you guys arent close, you guys are GLUE!!". They even gotten us the biggest farewell card. Thank you again.

The office farewells. Great to have the opportunity to say goodbye.

With KYS guys, future leaders of Malaysia lah konon bak kata arwah principle Ramli. Personally I can see it happening. Insyallah.

Pontian family. What a great clan. Happy to have so many great people in our lives. Very sincere and loving.

Office mates/mentors/tani mates. Real smart people who taught me a lot about my career. Shan in particular always paints a good picture for me. I'm gonna miss our "intellectual" talks.

Zareef's last day at school. Just the other day he was randomly/suddenly saying "ayah, i miss my friends and teacher... oh yaa my toys too" But i personally started feeling emotional when i start seeing the kids saying good bye to zareef especially Maimunah the girl that is holding hands in pic above.

With the cousins and aunties. The really like to spend time with each other. we even went ice-skating which lasted for 5 minutes. asik tergolek jee..

Diner and movie with the man and mama. Man nak mintak belanja sebelum pergi.

Office mates... we really struggled together and "powered" the nation.

My PEP batch in TNB. This i can confirm the future leaders of TNB. TNB is in good hands if it does.

Naomi, Amy and Thomas. The loveliest family you will ever meet and we had good food too. Sorry about the thing at the airport the other day thomas.

The wife with the addictive scrapper buddies.

Kakak2 sebelah. Really fortunate to have great neighbors.

Nik and lina... its been a long time since we met them. Dah nak pergi baru jumpa. but it was great to catch up and learn from them about oz. Really nice couple. Thanks for the pens. We love it and use it everyday.

ExxonMobil farewell. A lot of people came to say goodbye to maz. I told her that her office group is really hard to come by. Went to college together and worked together not to mention gossip a lot together.

Karaoke nightt

2010-04-21T18:50:00.010+08:00

I still remembered in NY when I asked a friend if there were any karaoke joints that doesnt sell alcohol. His reply was "I dont believe people will karaoke without being drunk". I think Malaysians beg to differ cause its one of our favorite past times. Well not me but most of us anyway and maybe the wife (she is so in denial about singing). "Ala malu laahh.. tak nak ahh" will always be the initial ice breaker. Give her the mic and she might not let it go.

I have never understood the syok-ness of karaoke but I really had fun last weekend. Its more of being in the company of great friends and letting out your inner music soul while acting out retarded. Shahrul and Su without a doubt was really up to the task with the dancing and gaya2 meneran- seems like they had planned ahead with the song choice and practiced at home. Wafi was wafi.. doing nothing is entertaining enough but if you add food (in this case the popeyes chicken) to the picture its better than seeing people drunk. Jal was also sporting and god damnnn he does look like on of the alleycats not to mention his voice - sampaikanlah salammm cintaaku padanyaa broo!!!

Hope everybody else had a great time like i did. Maybe next time more people can join in. Emmm looking back.. I understand why my friend said people only karaoke when they are drunk.

Family Farewells

2010-04-20T09:41:00.009+08:00

Note: I'm referring my mom siblings as nenek/atuk and my cousins as aunty/uncles more so for the kids.

Sob* sobbbb*... this is the hard part of leaving... saying good byes to the family. Last Saturday we went "All day atuk + neneks visit" on my side. Started by picking up Nek Fauziah in PJ, then visited Lola (my mom) + Atuk Jol + Aunty Wawa in KD. Then we headed of to my real kampung - Gombak to Nek + Atuk Langs +aunty Ecah nostalgic house not forgetting to eat all her food. Later on we went to Nek + Atuk Ngah's house meeting the buff uncle Afiq and aunty Tilla. Lastly visited Nelly (Nek + eli) with aunty angah and iza at Ukay perdana.

It was a very fulfilling day not to mention satisfying (but wished i can meet more cousins). But our happiness was bitter sweet realizing we are leaving them behind. Isskk...ishkkk tissue pleeasseee. But the gist of it, they are always there to support us in our decision to migrate, we are surely loved and will be sorely missed. So i cant write much about it cause it'll make me sad. So enjoy the pics.

btw.. Nelly was asking me if i have single friends to introduce to Angah (25 years old). The above pics with black checkers shirt. Anybody interested?? Promo baiknyaa ni angahh.

The string of farewells has started...

2010-04-19T07:47:00.003+08:00

I still can't believe that last Friday was my last day at the office!! I still think that I am coming to work today. It is exciting, but also sad to leave the office where I spent almost 7 years of my life. You can find work everywhere, but the friends that you bonded with are irreplaceable. I know some of them in college, and the circle keeps growing with the new hires coming in. The geos really have a close knit circle, and nothing can beat that!

Last Thursday, the department threw me a farewell party at Tupai2. It has been a long time since we've been there, so it was great to have the party there. The theme is pink and white, no wonder why lah. Three tableful of us, from geos and our comrade engineers. Our table, the VVIP table, ordered plenty of yummylicious food. It was really a feast! Here are some pictures..

Waiting at the lobby

Posing in front of the restaurant

Giving a farewell speech.. didn't know what I was talking about.. hehe
Everyone in pink.. Thanks for being so sporting!

Group photo of everyone!

Later, Nana, after all the trouble of getting lost (almost to Bangsar), 'surprised' me with this beauty cupcakes!!! It was very pretty, all pinkish purplish affair, very girly! Even after the heavy lunch, we can still eat some cupcakes! yummy!

The lovely cupcakes.. GOOD LUCK MATE!

The girls posing with the cupcakes..

The party didn't end there... The next day, which is my last day, we celebrated Nana's birthday at Secret Recipe AvenueK. It was supposed to be a surprise party for Nana, but Nana being cheeky knew about it beforehand. Well, we had fun anyway, this in time purple and lavender. Yeah, we geos coordinate in color! haha..

with the birthday cake..

Everyone squeezing in...

A few more pictures in the office.. spent the whole day bidding friends farewell.. Here is with my close friend, Amy, my mentor and best friend, plus the person getting all my mess :) Amy, even within this short period knowing you, I really really enjoyed your company. Really gonna miss our morning 'meetings'. Hope you'll do OK with work, with Ainul being a new addition to the group.

Take care, all! Hope to see you again in the future.. our company is small, we surely will cross paths again! :)

My idea of good home cook meal

2010-04-18T13:11:00.006+08:00

I went to my Mak Lang's house yesterday. I love it there.. I loved going there when I was 5 and I still love going there now. This is due to numerous reason especially the authenticity of the house.. I will write more about the house later... but the food, I tell you its the same type of food for the past 4 generations in the house. Minang kampung all the way!! Every time after I take my first bite I fell like the the food critic guy (Hugo) in the cartoon Ratatouille when he tasted the tested dish - reminiscing the joy of the food since childhood. I know everybody has that feeling... brings all those memories back..

So here is what I thought that made it great:

Served on a table that is older than myself
The table has to be pack where you can barely put your plate on
Not less than 3 types of sambal - sambal udang petai, sambal manis ayam, sambal tumis, sambal nak makan ngan tahu sumbat, sambal semalam ada dalam fridge for emergencies
All the accessories in reach - kicap sebelah, fridge belakang je, pinggan + cawan kiri/kanan.. everythinglah dont have to get up until u finish.
The same original ingredients from the same pasar for decades.
At least 5 types of snacks on the table - roti 3/4 jenis, biscuit, wafer dan lain2.
Ice still buat sendiri dalam tupperware - so u can get the biggest ice you need
Weird combinations of lauk for those who crave creativity - Nugget cicah kuah lemak cilipadi ikan tenggiri.
Introduced to those cheap stuff (chocolate, snacks) but tastes at par with ruffles, Lays etc.
Most importantly - MADE WITH LOVE

So heres a bit about what I like about my ideal home cook meal.. I sure will miss this.. not so the rip off nasi lemak/ roti canai at the stalls. Do share on your thoughts on the matter.

ps.. I'm telling you what I told my Mak Lang before we left - "I would rather eat here than any other grand hotel"

First separation - Waja tersayang

2010-04-18T12:43:00.005+08:00

Yes, i used to kutuk my old waja a lot (especially realizing the cost vs performance of our car industry - car tax is the biggest fraud in malaysia) but without a doubt it has done me and the family a great deal of service. From the first ride of our new borns, to the sleeping comfort in the hot midday sun , the muntah/sheeshee/popoo incidents even our dates before marriage.... it sure has done a lot. Apart the occasional small parts that keep coming off (literally and frequently) it never had any big problems (engine and so not). Proves the proton engineers are doing a good job but not so with its purchase of vendor parts (croniii.. but lets not get into that).

Being nearly 7 years old this august (yes we got it before we were married and a month after coming back from our studied).. our loan balance was really small but we still decided to let go cause we need the money to bring to oz. Got a friend in the office that helped me tolak to a car dealer.. which i believe we got a really good price with the minimal of hassle. To tell you the truth the business transaction (checking loan balance, condition of the car, paperworks) took less than 15 minutes.. we were talking longer about migrating issues of mesia. Bada boom bada bing.. the check was handed to us there and then after signing some papers. Really loved the convenience - kalau kenal org memang senang (mesia style). Being paranoid and eager.. we banked in the check the first chance we got. Done and dusted, just hope no summons creep up.

So heres to the waja.. still cant get used to not seeing it in the driveway. Miss you mate!!

Easter Egg

2010-04-07T09:34:00.007+08:00

The only thing we know about easter ... is the easter bunny and the easter egg. While trying to instill some artistic creativity to the kids, we decided to let the kids make an easter egg (being part of the bangsar village kids activity). Well its a lot easier than making a bunny. They seem to enjoy it although ours was the messiest among the rest. The important thing is they had fun.

So heres some pics of our prized egg. Imagined if we had to decorate an easter bunny.

Zareef's temper flared when Zara meddled with his creativity

Selling stuff off

2010-04-06T13:17:00.003+08:00

Seeing that we are leaving, we wanted to sell some of our stuff off. Some suggest that we have a yard sale. Some advice to go to a second hand shop. So before getting into all that, I would like to advertise it here (the easiest/cheapest way).

I dont know how to describe each and every thing... so lets do this, anybody who wants anything from us or think we might have it why dont you leave a comment and ask. I guarantee the price would be dirt cheap. The purpose is not really to make a hugh profit, just wanted to cover some cost to replace stuff when we get to melbourne.

Things that we think might be good buys are:

Jati katil and wardrobe
TV 21 inch LG
fridge - the best fridge ever
my bench + weights - agak complete set
my acoustic guitar + amp - already taken by haziq
Waja car - anybody can top 22k (second hand dealers offer)
various baby stuff + preggy mother stuff
almari kecik2
sofa
carpet
dining table
pinggan mangkuk
books - lots of them

If there are still stuff that we cant sell, we are going to have a yard sale on the 18th of april. Time to be determine and we will inform you in the future.

Hope to get a great response especially on the bigger stuffs. Pics are available upon request

Boss, I quitt!!

2010-04-05T15:44:00.006+08:00

People always ask why I quit my job. I have wrote a lot about it before. The details are here. I have been complaining about it for a longggg time but since my scholarship 7 year bond is up this coming september and cuti pun 125+ days (cuti banyak sebab takleh amik cuti) or so, I took the earliest date to quit - 1 April. You cant imagine how long I have wanted to submit that golden letter of resignation. Unfortunately the drama that I have imagined (bosses pissed off or somewhat) didn't come to reality but the kepuasan of freedom was still there in my heart. Bosses tried to act all cool which was fine... but later I found out they had an emergency meeting because of this (Me and AZ leaving).

Better yet, because of this... HR GM called us up asking why and all that, the CEO knowingly the reason we quit asked the 5-men policy (suckiest decision ever) to be reverted back to the 6-men immediately by sms to our GM the very same day he knew the details. Bergegar jugak lak management. Even the HR GM, our GM, Chief engineer with our new VP set up a meeting to rectify this issue with all of us. CEO dah marah baru lah nak kisah kan!

Even papers were sent upwards regarding our department structuring without proper channelling (bypass the new VP- pissed him off real good). Kesimpulannya AZ and me were really satisfied that our point got across. The shouting and grunting for the past 1.5 years were ineffective.... we just had to quit.. together. We wish we could have done it before but the bond was holding us back. Although its a lost to us but in the end it was a gain to our successors and the rest of the department. No doubt good things came about from this. Hope it turns out the same for us too.

ps.. one more funny thing in TNB, you dont notify that you want to quit instead you have to "memohon meletak jawatan". Yes you have to get their approval to quit. If they dont approve it you cant quit. Good luck doing that to me.

Difference between boys and girls

2010-04-04T19:23:00.006+08:00

One day Zareef got really mad when Zara stepped on him. He said " Sakittttlahh Zaraaaa... you stepped on my bird".

I butted in and told Zara "Zareef is a boy, bird dia sensitive"

Zareef added "Haaa.. Zara tak tahu. Zara girl takde bird. Zara ada bontot jeee.. sampaiiii depannnn!!"

Lawakkk gilerrr while me and the wife laughing our bontots off.

Quit my Job and moving on to Melbourne

2010-04-02T16:41:00.006+08:00

Note: Its been a while since our last post. So heres a few post to make up for lost time.

Melbourne - beautiful ain't it?

This is an informative posting especially who knows us personally. Yes the whole Zazamazu is moving down under.. Melbourne specifically. Not so surprising since Bo leaked it online already here (his defense is - tak letak disclaimer takleh bagitau, aku buat lah) - susah tul lah blogger ni. No harm done cause those who are important to us already knew. My mom was the hardest to tell but she gave the best reply of all. After being silent for a moment she said "Baguslah muda2 cari rezeki untuk keluarga, nanti dah tua2 susah". It was a big relief especially just after my dad's 1 word reply - "pergilah!"

We have been wanting to migrate to australia a few years back, actually I went to the migration agent way back in dec 2007 - rough/frustrating times during my career. But after learning more about the process we had to put it off until the end of 2008 due to my 7 year old bond with TNB (timing and all that). After being inspired by Sheri and Hafis, tq guys for all the advice and encouragement... we went for it and lodge/engage our application with the migration agent (global migrations solution) costing us in total more than RM18k. Yes a big investment and gamble but alhamdulillah we got it. I got really worried when the FBI check came late (got trouble with the law back in NY a few times) but when I knew FBI check was clean, it was just a matter of time. It was really a hassle with the IELTS exam, medical check up, all the documents involved but we pulled it off.

So building up to our move, I tendered my resignation and currently on leave. Although effective date will be 1 october, I have my 120+ day leave. So sekarang goyang kaki makan gaji buta!!. what a life. Have a lot of things to do prior to the move like selling things off, getting things in order and all that but i'm still free and schedule is very flexi. Up for anything boysss.

I will write more on my resignation and selling stuff off. But as for now I'm getting ready to a all boys outing to melaka for the weekend..

YAHHHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! bestnya life aku sekarang.

So I leave you with a description of the Australian flag as I am educating myself too.

KNYR + Kelah Sanctuary Day 3 of 3

2010-02-11T14:53:00.003+08:00

The final day started off a little late. Breakfast at 930am. It wasnt as bad as before with the nasi minyak. Yep in Terengganu they have nasi minyak for breakfast compared to weddings in KL. After being full we packed up and checked out. Before leaving KT we definitely had to stop in Pasar Payang to buy souvenirs and stuff.. nanti org rumah kata lupakan diorang lak.

Loved the Pasar. Food and wet market stuff downstairs while the clothes on the upper levels. It was pretty big and had dozens and dozens of shops. But what interested me the most was its liveliness and variety of colors. The wife ordered some kain batik for herself, but i just couldnt decide which on to buy (you know women.. they will always find fault in your choice, but kalau dia pilih tu lah yg tercantik dalam dunia takde kecuali). So in the end decided to buy simple stuff like baju kelawar and baju budak2. Haaa... naturally being men, all 3 of us shopped at just only one of the many many stores because the tauke (addressed herself as Mak) was really nice. Malas nak usha tempat lain gak. By the time we were nearly finished the girls barely bought anything.

After the kain2 frenzy, we headed down to the wet market. Bought the ever delicious keropok lekor Seberang Takir (terbaik gilersz.. better than loso). I personally bought RM20 of it. Tu pun rasa tak cukup giving most of it away to family and neighbors. Sweets and cheeka-dees pun beli as not to forget the kids. After sending everything into the cars, Farah was still nowhere to be found (dah janji nak tolak at 12pm). I realized women watches never work while they shop. Its like being in the bermuda triangle.

After 30 minutes of waiting we headed home. We didnt stop until we reached Kerteh. Happening gilerss. It was so happening we had to stop at Mesra Mall and to see for ourselves. To be honest, it was pretty impressive. They had nice shops ranging from starbucks to burger king even a spa at that. Bowling, futsal, soon to open TGV was at the other half of the mall. Go check it out if you pass by cause its really convenient (just like american malls) and 5 minutes from the Petronas quarters. The mall is a great idea cause i believe the ppl there have money but just dont have the place to spend it. We had lunch and headed off again not looking at kerteh the same way. *Amad told me out off all the thing his wife asked was about the Mall - so i'll try to include as many pics ok or suruh amad bawak lain kali*

Another pit stop was a small restaurant by the seaside. Farah tak lunch/minum ribena yg tertinggal @ bk so dia tapau nasi padprik. This was also a great oppurtunity to take pics of the sea but unfortunately there was a river (that couldnt be seen when we decided to stop) in the way. Dapatlah sikit2 gambar, but i took a pic of this tanah bulat2 (see pic) to ask what it really was. Mael cakap dia from the crabs korek2. We also goats running around, it might be the same ones yg Mael nearly hit a few days before.

So continuing on, we headed back. This time kinda fast. Mael knew the way so he sped off >140km/h. I tried to follow tapi defeated. Waja 7 tahun ku sudah uzur sikit compare with his 2 month old myvi sport. The road was clear all the way but once we got into KL .. seperti biasa jam tak ingat dunia. Sampai we splitted up and Mael made the wrong turn. Tapi lepas tu pandai2 lah masing. I sent Amad home not before dia belanja minum kat Secret Recipe while consulting Kira with her love life. After Amad arrived safely at his home in Bukit Damansara (very peaceful.. surprisingly cause its smack in the middle of KL), I had to send Kira home. Aduuhh the jam lagi. Rumah dia 2-3km je tu NPE but it took me 20 minutes. Nasib baik Kira bagi pinjam touch'n'go.

After making sure everybody arrived safely, I reached home to the lovely welcome party of the kids. Ayah!!! Ayahh!!! they shouted with much enthusiasm and love. Exactly what i needed from a very long and tiring drive. The wife on the other hand was "hi sayang, dah sampai.. baguslah" and doze back off again 2 seconds later.

Ps.. Would like to thank the KNYR people for being such great hosts, the friends that came along, the boss that let us go gladly and the Ketengah ppl for making my dreams/mission to Kenyir come through.

Pics slow lah upload.. I upload ni dulu