AULD LANG SYNE ! ( Remembering EB...)

December 31st 2006
Budaiya

AULD LANG SYNE
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ lang syne!

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

We two have run about the hillsides
And pulled the daisies fine,
But we have wandered many a weary foot
For auld lang syne !

We two have paddled (waded) in the stream
From noon until dinner time,
But seas between us broad have roared
Since auld lang syne !

And there is a hand, my trusty friend,
And give us a hand of yours,
And we will take a goodwill draught (of ale)
For auld lang syne !

And surely you will pay for your pint,
And surely I will pay for mine!
And we will take a cup of kindness yet
For auld lang syne !

GOOD BYE to 2006


... and to all my friends ...
Wishing you in your busy life

1: TIME FOR RELAXATION


2: GOOD SLEEP


3: GOOD HEALTH WITH EXERCISE


4: SOMEONE TO DANCE WITH


5: ... A BIT OF ADVENTURE


6: GOOD LOOKS


7: BUT MOST OF ALL ...
I WISH YOU LOTS OF BEAR HUGS


8: AND THE COMFORT OF REAL LOVE
MANY BLESSINGS ...

MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE LOVE TO SHARE,
HEALTH TO SPARE AND FRIENDS THAT CARE !

Have a Prosperous New Year 2007 !

Hari Raya Aidil Adha 1427

December 30th 2006
Budaiya

Its Hari Raya Aidil Adha today. The spirit, the mood, the atmosphere, the ambience are not there, I feel it is just like any other day.I missed hearing the takbir, and I missed the Raya goodies and most of all I missed celebrating it with my family.

This morning I woke up to not a pleasant news about Saddam's execution. Life for a life ?
Then "life" seems so cheap? Someone can decide when and how someone should die.Clearly it was done on purpose.It would change how we would remember Eid from on. It would go down in history and change a lot of perspectives. Lets not forget who is "winning" in this war. The big power has managed and succeeded in creating civil war among the Muslims. We are Muslims and we pray to the same GOD. It is sad to see some power trying to divide and disunite us.

So, it has been a quiet day, reflecting on the year that was and wondering what the new year would bring.

December 29th 2006

December 29th 2006
Budaiya

The friday started off very nicely. Bright sunny morning and windy. We had a nice lunch courtesy of the cook who decided to cook a special lunch, some kind of vegetable pulao and egg curry.
Nice change from the daily chicken curry.
My weekly walk was nice too, since the weather was wonderful, but I felt that the wind was a bit strong and it helped to push me to walk faster.
After 4pm the sky started to turn grey and its getting dark very fast.
I get a good view of the world outside from my window. This is where my thoughts often wanders to the past and to the future. What it had been and what it could be.
I enjoy these moments alone looking at the world passing by.
It must have been "love"... but its over now !

An Afterthought

December 28th 2006
Budaiya

Has anyone faced any "afterthoughts" situation ?

Overheard this morning ...

"Hi... we are having a gift exchange..."
"Why was I not informed yesterday ? How could I simply get a gift..now...at this moment ?
"No problem...just get anything...anything at all"
"You should have informed me earlier...at least yesterday"
"Sorry, I forgot to inform you.."
"Well...just count me out...theres no way I can get a gift at this hour...I am no Doraemon"

Moral of the story...
Judging from the few gifts that was placed on the table, they had been making arrangements much earlier.
Either it was not well received...or they need more gift items.
Perhaps they suddenly felt...OOPPSSS..I left some people out..!
It could be a blunder on the organiser's side or they had done it on purpose.

It is not proper to invite someone at the last minute. That person may feel that he/she is the second choice or as a replacement.
Unless it is an open invitation...where a memo should have been emailed out or paste it on the notice board.

And in that case the organiser can safely say..."I have put a memo on the notice board, you may have missed it"

Anyway... without any prejudice or malice... to each her own.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Year end mood .......

December 27th 2006
Budaiya

In four days we would be saying goodbye to 2006.I have mixed feelings about the year that has been.But suffice to say that I am glad its going leave us soon.

It has been lazy days eversince the Christmas holiday, no one is in working mood. Everyone is talking about the next 9 days long weekend given to the public sector. We in the private sectors are not so lucky.
It doesnt make much difference to us, since we have to work throughout the holidays.

So what am I thinking now ?
I have been thinking about all the nice dishes to cook for Eid celebration, cookies, cakes and desserts. The electric oven that I bought has been sitting like a white elephant. I used it a couple of times, to bake a cake and bread pudding.
Been researching recipes to try and those mouth watering dishes are really tempting but "laziness" seemed to overrides everything else. I ended up "tapau-ing" food from the office kitchen.

The only nice things that happened was the post Chrismas sales. I did treat myself to a few items at bargain prices. When I couldnt decide on the colour, I took one of each..!
Crazy but true.

On the first day of Christmas

December 25th 2006
Budaiya

It is Christmas day, but we are in the office as usual. Not that I am complaining since I am not celebrating. Those colleagues who are celebrating Christmas are given a day off. It is very quiet today since a lot of people are not in. The only sound that could be heard now are from the carpentry sides. Work still have to go on for the next show.
I am looking forward to the next weekend with a long holiday to celebrate Eid and New Year.
Yesterday we celebrated one of the colleague's birthday, and we had plenty of cakes and I think I had enough sugar suppply for a week.All the cakes were overly sweet and specially the Christmas cake that came a thick sugar frosting.

Most of our clients offices are closed for the year end celebration and would only be back next year. The best thing is that we have 3 special occassions within the week, Christmas, Eid and New Year. Well..lets enjoy the day offs since we dont have that many public holidays here. And on top of that we work 6 days a week and sometimes 7 days a week.

The weather looks good and I hope it continues to be without any more rain. I had enough of rain for the year.

An old favourite

I used to like this song, But it was sung by another singer Dian Piashesha.
It is about one who is still holding on to her love. She would give her all and everything just to be with him.

Looking back ... was it love ?
Or just being stupid ?

" LIFE is like riding a bicycle,
You dont fall of
Unless you want to stop peddling "

Thus "LIFE" is all about CHOICE. The choice that we make and be prepared to live with it.As long as you put your head on your shoulder, you will be alright.

Christmas is here again

December 23rd 2006
Budaiya

I didnt put up a Christmas tree this year. I guess with all the wet and rainy days, has dampened my Xmas spirit a bit.
Still this morning I played my favourite Xmas songs by Boney M. And memories flew back to a time when some of those people were in my life.
Xmas always brings back memories of "L" whom has gone out of my life, since I left for Singapore. There were moments when you just cant erase from your mind.
We were having dinner just before he left to do his masters, and it was Xmas time. So it was natural that they were playing Xmas songs in the background. That was a special moment, in love and about to miss his presence in my life.
From then on I would play Xmas songs when Xmas comes, which led to another funny incident. There was a group of guys/gals carolling in the neighbourhood. When they heard me playing the Xmas songs, they stopped over,I came out out onto my balcony and saw them, carolling inf front of my gate.That was beautiful.
Those were the days when I was sharing with a few housemates in Damansara. Everyone has gone their own ways, doing very well in life no doubt.

Christmas in Singapore were celebrated differently. End of the year was normally a time to shop and shop and feast on food and the Orchard Road light up.

And now in Bahrain, its totally different. Quiet and it was not even a public holiday.
But we often have our own Xmas eve off day since mostly everyone is in Xmas mood.

Time is changing.We move on. Live for the day. Enjoy each moment of your life.

Farewell Dinner

December 21st 2006
Budaiya

Tonight we had dinner at Beijing Restaurant to bid farewell to a colleague who was leaving for LA. Dinner invitation was for 7pm but the guests only come after 8pm. Some of us who arrived on time were quite hungry and it wasnt so pleasant when we had to wait. One table was overly loud and made me wonder, where has dinner etiquette gone to ?
I left early, soon after dinner since I wasnt in the mood to listen to the karaoke. Moreover my hair and clothes were reeking with cigarettes smell. Uuurrgghh...
Enough for one night. Bid the couple thank you and we left. Back to the comfort zone of my quiet room. Tomorrow I must have my retail theraphy...!

What a week

December 21st 2006
Budaiya

What a week it has been. What with all the rains during the long weekend. Water dripping from the ceiling and water seeping in from the floor.
The old buildings here are not equipped for rainy days. There is no drainage and the plumbing systems is terrible. They are either non existent or choked. The landlords dont care. They only know how to collect the rents.
A friend who came over for a visit has gone home to Singapore. Just a coincidence that the very evening she were to fly home, there was a road block for the funeral of Shaik Abdulamir AlJamri. So we were diverted,traffic was slowed down and she was so stressed, if she would missed her flight. Judging from the turn outs, he must have been a very respected and highly regarded person. May he rest in peace and Allah Bless his soul. Amen.
The cold weather too is creating a lot of sickness around. Colleagues and friends are coming up with flu. And I need to go and buy that heater before I freeze.

Camels day out

December 18th 2006
Budaiya

The first day with the sun shining, even though it was not that warm, it was still a blessing.
We were on the way to Alosra when we saw a herd of camels grazing in the open ground opposite. There were a few families with kids already there taking pictures. Notice the SAR Grand Mosque in the background ? Perhaps there were a hundred of them having an outing that morning. It is always a pleasure and joy to see all these camels when they come out in a big herd.

Thoughts 1

Looking out of my window
I see the grey skies
the sandy field that turned to a lake
And the quiet evening
and lonely moments

my thoughts fly... to a distant land
my mind wonder
where could you be ?
did u ever pass by and look at the same lake ?
did u ever remember me ?

its gloomy
its cold
its sad

Oh well...its another year again
why cant I just move on ?
why cant I just forget ?

oh no...
yesterday
while getting lost
passing by those familiar places
I remember us
when we used to drive around

hey girl...
wake up
hes gone
he doesnt even care
he doesnt even remember

ammoontie
dec 17th 2006
5.23pm

the puddle that turned to a lake .......

Reminiscence

December 17th 2006
Budaiya

It rained almost the whole day today. Made my weekly sambal tumis, I only cook this particular dish once a week and that has to be on an off day.
I use this paste as a chilli base and I would need to add just the seafood, meat, egg or just anything to the chilli.
Met up with My Singaporean lady friends for tea yesterday evening. The tea, hot chocolate, coffee and cakes were perfect compliment to the rainy day outside. Conversations flo freely with ease since we discovered a lot of common grounds to chat about.
We talked about a lot on families and about life itself.We didnt realise it was almost 2 hrs.The rain never stop, the coffee shop was leaking and wet and dripping all over.

So how do you tell a friend or give her a hint that her husband is straying ?
How do you define "straying"
How much should you get involve in someone else's family ?
Is it the right thing to do ?
Where is the cross line ?
Should you rock the boat ?
Should you pretend that you do not know, do not hear, do not see ?
Should you let the husband get away with cheating the wife ?
How do you define "cheating"
What is the tolerance level ?

In the end I chose to zip it and pray that he would realise his mistakes and not continue with all the negative activities.
What you dont know, doesnt hurt. But once you knew that someone cheated on you, the hurt would bleed your soul. You can never replace a lost trust.

Saturday 16th

December 16 2006
Budaiya

Woke up to a wet morning with the day looking so gloomy.Perfect weekend to stay in with a good book.
We went out to dinner last night since someone wanted to have japanese food. Had teppanyaki, miso soup and sushi. The seafood and vege were ok but the chicken was too saltish to our liking. So all the chicken were left out on our plates.Not a surprise since the teppanyaki chef was not japanese...! I guess they are so used to cooking with lots of soya sauce, fish sauce, shrimp paste, salt in all their dishes.
After dinner we went to have coffee at another place. We were sitting outdoor but unfortunately there was a group of bikers and cars been making their rounds every 5 minutes or so making a hell lot of noise perhaps to show off. I guess some people enjoy this kind of cheap thrills. We found it irritating.

Good morning Sunshine

December 15th 2006
Budaiya

A beautiful friday I should say since there was a sun shining in the early morning. I was hopeful that it would be a good day without rain. It is my friday ritual as usual, laundry, cleaning the balcony after the recent rain messed it up and cooking a nice lunch. We had a SP fish curry and I ate so much that I ended up with a stomach ache.
Took my "Friday walk" and it was really pleasant since the weather was nice and cool. During these walks, I always let my thoughts wondering about those that are dear and close to my hearts, those that are far and near, alive or have gone from my live physically or literally.
A dear friend came over to visit her hubby and we had some catching up done and one of the nights we had dinner at our Boss house. He cooked laksa lemak and prawn noodles, wantan and curry chicken. Fried banana with sorbet for dessert and green tea with basil drinks. It was a wonderful dinner considering the fact we missed Singapore food.

You cannot milk a male cow

December 13th 2006
Budaiya


Met up with a designer yesterday, after a long while. He only come to see us when he needed something very extremely urgent to do. We are sort of a SWAT team. We only get called at the last minute to save a situation.
But it is understandable since we have been working with him for a long time. He is very creative, influential and I regard him higly in terms of his design and ideas. He has a high presentation skills, that makes one listen and most of the time Clients would accept his ideas on the spot.
He is already there making a name for himself. I guess it helps a lot when one is good looking and charming.

Anyway, project talks aside, he mentioned something funny yesterday...

" You cannot milk a male cow "

It depends on how you interprete it.

# Means you cannot get something from a wrong source.
# Means you have to be smart in whatever you are doing.
# Means you need not to waste your time doing something impossible.
# Means ... if you cannot differentiate a male and female cow...
how could you produce a good design ?
# Either the male cow would love you for all your massaging or get kicked in the butt... good luck !

Well..anyway it was always hilarious whenever he comes to our office.

Meeting the Minister

December 10th 2006
Budaiya

I just came home from attending a function at the Ritz Carlton,hosted by the Singapore Embassy in Riyadh with the Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mr Zainal Abidin Rasheed and his entourage.The turn out was quite good and I met with a number of new friends too. We realised that there are a lot of Singaporeans in Bahrain now. H.E The Ambassador was suggesting that we set up a club here, which is actually a very good idea. Julia is already taking the first step to set up a website. Another red dot !
We met a couple of old colleagues and had a bit of polite catching up done. The food was good, I specially love the sushi and the dessert was so cute ! By 'cute' I meant it was nicely presented, forget the taste !
The Minister was pleased to learn that there are a lot of Singaporeans here, working as consultants, having their own bussiness and of course my Boss is the one who has been here the longest. We have grown to love the space and working pace here.
It was a nice evening, meeting some new people and hopefully we can get together again soon.

Good to be back

December 8th 2006
Budaiya

I was away in Abu Dhabi for the past 9 days and was not able to be online, and I missed quite a bit on the blog world. We were doing some stands for the Gastech exhibition in Abu Dhabi. So it was like 8am to early mornings working hours.Was very tiring but it was all good in the end. Not that it was without any incidents, there were plenty and it has thought me a lot. Infact for a first timer, I have been thrown into the deep end of the pool and was expected to swim and float. There had been moments and occassions when I was almost drowned, but there had been some hands that pulled me up to the surface again, of which I was very grateful. I thank you William and Jacque who had bailed me out. There were some stupid mistakes happening and I learned that there are people with working attitudes and I had to bear the consequences.Nevertheless I had to take it in my strides and hopefully I should be able to do a better job next time. I had wanted to have a 'flawless' jobs done but was not able to achieve it. I was saddened by all the stupid mistakes that had taken place and as usual the clients are always right and we are not to argue on site, but to try our best to remedy the situations.
Abu Dhabi is nice place, it is clean and has a lot of greeneries along the way.
The traffics are more manageable and the taxi services are reliable and you dont need to huggle about taxi fares like in Manama and for that matter at the airport.It just happened that it was the National Day celebration in Abu Dhabi, so the city was lighted up beautifully,it was like in fairyland. I didnt have much time to explore the city though, but hopefully I will be able to visit Abu Dhabi again.
I came home yesterday evening and was greeted by a heavy downpour. This morning it started off rather nicely, no rain and I have a big task ahead to clean up my terrace and a huge laundry to do.
Anyway it feels good to be back home again. Nothing beats the comfort of your own place, no matter what. And for now Bahrain is home !

PS: Saw a few delegates and visitors from Malaysia at the show, but they were all ...( you know what ! ) I know they are Malaysians from the names on their badges. Mostly from oil companies, shipping...for which I dont need to mention names.
( Eh... megah ke dapat attend conference ? )

My Day .......

December 7th 2006
Budaiya

December seventh is my favourite day.