Horror!!

Early Thursday morning around 3.30am, both hubby and myself woke up with a shock from our deep sleep. The next door neighbour's car alarm went off loudly and we heard a loud thud. Hubby terus bukak tingkap and saw two men on a motorbike sped off just outside Hamdan's gate. Then we heard Hamdan 'OOOiii!!' and nothing happened. For a minute or two, after the motorbike sped off...

Then only both of us berani nak kluar -- Hamdan himself and wife pun baru keluar. The passenger window of the car was totally smashed and the radio was taken out. Gate rumahnye diumpil. But the most astounding fact is that -- Hamdan said when he jerit oooiii, he had a parang ready in his hand. The 2 Malay men (he was very sure of this - one already inside the car and the other one waiting on the motorbike) buat tak reti je.. The man on the motorbike then aimed a pistol towards Hamdan -- hence he pulled everyone back into the house. He didn't know whether the pistol is a toy pistol or the real thing -- but it was really a shock to actually see the pistol was aimed with confidence.. He then decided not to risk his family's life (he has 7 kids, a maid and a wife in the house -- the eldest child is a 13-year old daughter).. He's not taking the risk.. Take whatever you want..I'm sure most of us would do the same thing if we are faced with similar situation.

Syukur alhamdullillah nothing bad had happened but I know Linda is badly shaken -- I mean she has 7 kids to take care of when her husband is away at work.. I pun tak berani nak pikir what might have happened if those thugs decides to get into the house instead of just into the car..Ishk.. nauzubillah..

Shopping Spree...

Ishk.. lama sungguh tak update blog ni.. so, I'm taking this opportunity to citer the shopping spree we had sebelum bulan Ramadan bermula.. The shopping spree was meant mainly for Yone yang akan berkahwin tahun depan tapi ala2 nak raya kan, so we all pun tumpang la sekaki.

Masa cuti sekolah in August, the whole family including Rina and Adi pun turun ke KL - ada 2 sebab, pertamanya nak shopping untuk Yone and secondly untuk visit Meor Hamzah yang masa tu dah abt a month tak jumpa anak bini hehehe.. so Yone drove from Penang with Mama, Abah and Cha. Stop by in Jelapang to pick up Rina and Adi..

The first night tu, we all decided to have dinner in F*g & Ol*ve kat S*nway P*ram*d to celebrate Abahnya belated birthday. The journey was so long, kedai dah nak tutup baru we all sampai.. We all enjoyed the food tapi the portion was quite big.. Meor lagi la enjoy-- favouritela katakan..

Amongst the activity we did were pegi ke Jalan T*R to look for Yone nye kain kahwin.. adoi penatla mencari, lenguh kaki2.. Abah ngan mama lagi la lenguh.. Abah asyik cari kerusi/sofa je nak duduk kalau sampai satu2 kedai tu.. Finally we found the kain yang Yone nak.. Alhamdullillah...

Lepas dah shopping we went to Shah Alam, to have dinner kat rumah Ayah Chu/Mak Su.. sedap -- ada lauk gulai tempoyak-- pergh.. mengancam..After dinner, I terlelap kejap-- agaknya terlalu kekenyangan kot.. Sedar2 dah nak balik.. Had to drive again sebab Yone letih..

Esoknya tu, we went to Aunty Jan's house just for short visit -- sebab Rina and Cha tak pernah buat tour lagi kat the new house. (Actually Meor and Yone pun tak pernah pegi gak -- tapi Meor kerja, Yone plak dating-- tak dapek la nak nolong).. Btw, I was on leave. It was a breeze sebab Aunty Jan ada lunch appointment with her cousins (which was more to belanja Sarah yang balik kejap for summer holidays from US).. Excited betoi tengok Cha and Rina yang oohh..and aahhh.. everytime sampai kat a new room..

Right after that, we had lunch kat rumah Aunty Nie (adik Aunty Jan) -- also had kampung style dishes -- sedap!! After dah lunch and solat, we went to PKNS in Shah Alam to shop for baju raya.. Lega dapat shop around that time and don't have to berebut2 masa ramadan kat PKNS tu.. selamat.. We then head home and the day after that, everyone left...

Here are some of the pictures taken during the visit..

P/S: FYI -- Adi is only 2 yrs 9 months old. He might not look like it but he is still a baby/toddler.

Salam Aidilfitri

I hope it's not too late to wish all bloggers Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri... Maaf Zahir dan Batin..

Ikhlas dari Anom dan Nasir..

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Al-Mubarak

To all readers,

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Al-Mubarak.. semoga kita semua dapat menjalani ibadah puasa dengan sempurna..Amin..

From:

Anom & Nasir

Mexico Trip - Conference part 1

After the long awaited months and a lot of hiccups.. finally Mexico came.

The journey as expected was really.. really long.. I was in my most comfortable outfit--sampaikan Craig, Francyne's husband said "Anom, I've never seen you so casual -- even while we were travelling, you were always in heels and proper office attire". Craig used to be my boss before, hence the comment.. Abih dah la long flight -- I have to walk a lot and I was in my sport shoes(pasal kaki masih sakit lagi kalau jalan banyak2) takkan nak pakai smart2 plak..

Sampai kat LA, we separated from Francyne & co.. and continued our journey to Mexico City.. The stewardess on the flight to Mexico was very, very unfriendly -- tak inform pun kat we all yang we have to isi the immigration form. Dah la bagi food yang salah to me, nasib baik tak de mood nak makan..

Anyway, the conference was fun.. the hotel was so-so, the traffic in Mexico city was horrible. Every morning we have to be ready for the bus to get us to the conference at 6.45am... That means, wake up at around 5.00am.. Jet lag was not so bad.. But the first day was quite bad.. All of us was like zombies at 12.00 noon onwards -- because that was about 1.00am kat Malaysia.

The following days were better.. afternoons are the worst la, but we all got over it fine. Cuma disebabkan terlalu disoriented, the first morning tengah bersiap-siap, instead of pakai my contact lenses, I threw (curah) the lenses into the sink -- how stupid was that!! So disebabkan tak bawak spare.. terpaksa la pakai glasses yang dah teruk conditionnye the whole conference.

On Monday 4th August night, we were invited to attend the Kaiser Family Foundationnye dinner - in Westin Hotel in Centro Historico.. We were like very late because we were stuck in the traffic. We took the bus, had to do a bit of "Amazing Race" round the block at night in Mexico city before we reach the hotel.

The hotel setting was very 'funky' -- with a lot of shiny red, black and white colour furnishings. It was dark as well.. Somehow I felt like I was in one of the CSI Miami settings -- u know, the crime scene set before the crime happens. Anyway, at the dinner, we were assigned different tables to sit and we have a name card to put in front of us at the table so that others at the table know you.

At my table, I was surrounded by Americans. Front, right and left. The hot topic was the US Presidential election.. Eventhough I didn't follow the US politics that much, when I asked questions, they took the time to explain. That was the great thing about being there at the table.. Someone asked me about the Malaysian politics, suprisingly they haven't heard of Mahathir Mohammad, much less Anwar Ibrahim -- though they heard about the Petronas Twin Towers. It was great fun..

Francyne sat at the table behind me, she sat with a couple of journalists from Caribbean, a British woman named Penny who worked with Kaiser. Later that night, Penny told me that she went to school with a Malaysian princess in the 1970s.. She can't remeber her full name but she promised to google her and let me know when she gets back. That reminds me, I have to email her to get that Princess' name.

On that table too, there was this girl named Marvilyn Brown -- she's HIV positive and she used to be a guest in Oprah Winfrey Show. She wrote a book -- and an advance reader edition was distributed FOC at the dinner. I got her to autographed my copy -- when Francyne introduced her to me, Francyne told me that she was in Oprah and me being a little bit blur -- lambat respond -- so I think she wasn't quite happy la when I didn't recognise her -- a bit of attitude la..Yela... how said, you became a celebrity because of HIV.. how sad kan.. tu pun ada hati nak eksyen.. I haven't even started reading the book yet. Tengokla, when everything is settled, I'll start..

Richard Gere was supposed to come to dinner tapi he was shooting a movie somewhere so he didn't make it. His brother David Gere was there, but we did know about it until a couple of days after that.. Kalau tidak brother pun brother la..Anyway, end of the year masa kat Bali during our General Assembly nanti, Stephen (Kaiser representative) promised to try and get Richard to come to the event.. Orait..ada la can kan nak bergambar dengan dia.. hahaha..Berangan Anom.. eh.. bukan I sorang si Francyne and Lisa pun sama gak..

Other than that, saw Bill Clinton and Annie Lennox in person -- of course body guards were all around takde la dapat dekat kan.. Also was face to face with this actress -- Sheryl Lee Ralph which at that point I can't remember her name, otherwise would have asked to take a picture with her. Anyway, a youth was busy interviewing her so malas la nak kacau daun gak kan.. she played Rita's (Lauryn Hill) mother in Sister Act 2.

Too many things happened at the conference -- the whole conference was divided into 3 -- the Global Village -- where all the fun, happening things went on, the sessions at the Centro Banamex and the exhibition which was situated on the same floor with the Media Centre.

At the conference, for the first time I saw real life protests, -- dalam pelbagai2 bentuk -- ada yang protes terbaring, ada yang took their top off -- had their body painted with all the protest messages and just stand there at the media center for at least 45minutes -- can u imagine?? I was so shocked, tak teringat nak tangkap gambar..Even if I teringat pun.. rasanya tak sanggup nak amik..so humiliating.. Even Francyne yang mat salleh tu pun tak sanggup nak tengok..

A lot la was going on, tak tercerita the whole event punye coming and going -- it was labelled a Social Conference as a lot social things went on -- not just the serious conference stuff. Most importantly - this conference gave the people who are affected by HIV a platform to come out in the open and say what they need to the public be it men who have sex with men, transvestites, sex workers and others.

Lupa plak -- I also met with this Mufti from Zambia -- he's part of this network called - African Network of Religious Leaders affected or lifes are affected by HIV/AIDS - ANERELA+ .. He wanted to know the view of our religious leaders on the topic -- I told him it's very much a taboo to talk about HIV in Malaysia. He's interested to talk to Malaysian Imams or Muftis to change that view because HIV knows no boundaries.

The interesting part that I discovered was how Muslims from other countries have a bigger perspective of the issue and they want to discuss it -- because to them, it is there, it's affecting people especially the young ones -- if you ignored it, it will get worse. In fact, 2 Iranian doctors were supposed to present papers in a couple of the sessions but they weren't able to make it due to some technical problem.

Next I will update about my involvement in a HIV messaging and jalan2 experience in Mexico and LA. Enjoy some of the pictures below. (K. Ja/Shana -- enjoy, sorry na lambat update..)

In LA airport waiting for our luggage -- si kecik ni tak letih pun.. still full of energy

The Centro Banamex -- where it all happened..

Annie Lennox -- at one of the press conference

Bill Clinton speaking at his Keynote address session..

Methadone Man & Buprenorphine Babe
Superheroes Raise Awareness of Lifesaving Medicines for Drug Users -- Lisa stopped them to take pictures

Anom & Lisa going through booths at the Global Village

The normal protests..

Dewi - Metro TV journalist doing her stand up for the camera crew for her news piece.

Us three with Glenn -- a participanting journalist from Papua New Guinea who is also an Australian. Great guy..

Us again with Stephen from Kaiser -- notice the spectacles ?? Hodoh betul..hahaha..

Indian performers in Global village.. or maybe it was another form of protests -- tak sure la..

Just got back!!

It's been a while since I blogged. Just got back from a very, very long trip.. masih lagi ada jetlag..tapi kerja dah kena start.. Will update soon with lots of pictures and stories..

Birthday and PTD

Birthday cake for the birthday girl..

Last Monday was Francyne's birthday (21st July). But she was smart - she took leave that day and told us that she won't be in the office on Friday (18th) afternoon. She had a feeling that we were going to do something. We were smarter -- we did a suprise do for her on the 17th afternoon.. here are some pix.. Happy Birthday Francyne..

'I know you guys are up to something'...



The ladies in the new wing with the birthday girl..

Also, last week Meor received a good news, he got accepted as PTD and now has to go for a 2 weeks course in INTAN, Kluang Johor. He stopped by our house yesterday before continuing his journey to Kluang this morning. Congratulations Meor!! You deserve it..