25 November 2011

A few weeks ago, I received an email invite for this Malam Kecemerlangan (excellence awards night) from the Institute of Education Development (InED), UiTM. It is a night to celebrate long distance students who's got on the dean's list during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th semester which I happen to be. Since it's free and it has been ages since I've been to dinners of any kind, I quickly replied yeah count me in.

So today I had my best shirt and pants on, shoes polished and even my favorite neck tie around my neck for the occasion. Actually I only have one neck tie, that black one that I bought from Tesco last week for 16.90. Thanks to 5 years of boarding school, I still remember how to wear a tie, effortlessly. The event was held at Shah Alam Convention Center we got there as early as 6:30 in the evening. Much to my dismay, most of my guy classmates decided they were too cool for this event and bailed. Well, it's your loss.

The event itself is pretty modest yet glamorous if you see how some of the girls dressed up. The food was so so and the awards-giving ceremony later on didn't feel that special especially when you have 200 other people getting the same accolade as you. Still it feels nice to be recognized by the university after all these while. Although we worked twice as hard and paid twice as much than the full time student, the university had largely ignored us for the past 3 years or so no matter how well we did.

For me, I had a good time. Good food, good company and the chance to dress up once in a while. Check out these photos from the night at my Posterous blog.

26 September 2010

Today we had our first mini open house/house-warming/get-together-with-family at Casa Riana apartments. We have thought about doing something like this since we moved here. It's only now that we got the chance.

It's nothing major really and we purposely didn't invite everybody because we meant it to be a family/neighbours affair. Besides, we couldn't possibly accommodate everyone had we done so. Still, nearly a hundred people came by today, mostly family and relatives. I really had no idea we had so many relatives living hear in Selangor until they all came by today. Thank you guys for coming.

25 September 2010

This Hari Raya season we didn't get much open house invites, surprisingly, unlike last year when we couldn't even cope with the overwhelming invitations. Today my company had our own Raya open house at the boss' place.

Although nearly a quarter of the staff were absent, that didn't damper the mood of the occasion. There were lots of food and everybody looks forward to the hampers lucky draw. I didn't give much hope to that because I'm like the most unluckiest person in the whole world when it comes to lucky draws and stuff. But today though is my lucky day because I won the biggest hamper in the house. I'm sure that won't likely repeat again in the future. It's like one in a millionth thing. Next time I win something like this is when an asteroid hits the earth.

3 September 2010

Although I still thinks buffets for any occasion is a huge waste of money and food, if somebody treats us with one and we don't have to spend a penny, bring it on!

This year another one of our kind supplier treated us for break fast at Hilton Hotel Petaling Jaya. Some 20 of us braved the mad rush hour traffic to get to the hotel this evening. The food at PJ Hilton is quite good I must say. A refreshing change from IOI Mariott hotel that we've been going to these past 3 years or so. I must recommend this hotel if you got money to burn. Thanks again supplier!

3 July 2010

We have a good community! This evening the folks at Casa Riana held a potluck/birthday party/get-together+World Cup viewing party down at the pool & the community hall. Residents brought along foods to the event and my wife made her trademark onde-onde which was a hit among the guests. The empty tupperware was proof.

This is the 2nd time already we had such gathering. The first time, we just moved here the day before so we were too busy to attend. Earlier in the afternoon there was another meeting with the resident's association, developer and some other folks. I missed it because I had some other matters to attend to. We here at Casa Riana is like one big kampung. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

25 June 2010

Today my company celebrated it's 10th anniversary in existence. We had some prayers and had a little party to commemorate the milestone. Did you know that it was previously name Cosmos Dynamic before it changed to its current name? Yes it was a dreadful name and I'm glad somebody decided to change it for the better.

10 years is quite an achievement for a small company. We've been through ups and downs and achieved so many things through the years and I'm proud to be a part of that. Almost 4 years to be exact. I'm the kind of guy who likes to settle down at one place and generally loyal to a particular organization. To me if a company treats me right with respect and rewards me accordingly then I have no reason to leave. So far I have no reason to. Here's for another 10 years, cheers!

14 March 2010

Last month was my brother, Faiz's wedding day in Perak. That was on the bride's side. It is customary for the groom to hold a wedding reception as well at his place. So today we had a little kenduri ceremony at my Mom's place in Seri Serdang. It was a small event with a little under 200 guests attending but my Mom, other family members and our relatives came nevertheless to celebrate the event or lend a helping hand.

Now I should be there at the thick of the action but alas I've got a class to attend today in Shah Alam where I had to see for a test and also submit my assignments. So I missed all the fun and only got there later in the evening. Anyway congrats again to my brother. I think I did pretty well in both of my tests today, so at least it's all worth it.

26 December 2009

Today is my colleague Ashraf's wedding with his fiancee Aishah. I didn't go to their first wedding ceremony in iPoh last week so I felt obliged to go to this one in downtown KL.

We got there around 3:30PM where the bride and groom were about to leave the venue. Still I managed to congratulate him and snap some pictures before they left. They looked so handsome and dashing in their blue wedding dress. Although it looked a lot like my baju raya this year, Ashraf didn't borrow them from me - for the record.

My wife thought the food catered at this wedding was marvelous. I'm just so hungry today so I finished a full plate.

Just a tiny bit of complaint though. Whoever drew the map to the wedding location is FAIL big time. Although the venue is located right smack in the middle of KL, I managed to get lost for almost an hour. Yes I saw 2 schools in the map but which school? I also saw 2 commuter stations there but what's their name? Which Tesco Extra is that? Whoever knows where the heck Sungai Mas Plaza and Crystal Crown Hotel are?

That said, I would like to congratulate Ashraf and Aishah for their wedding. May you guys live happily ever after. Take it easy tonight ya.

12 December 2009

To be honest, I almost changed my mind a few times before finally deciding to go ahead with this trip. Kuala Terengganu is not exactly near and the travel cost would be prohibitively expensive for my liking. Then again, it's not everyday that my good friend get married so in the end we decided to go anyway.

I drove no less than 700 kilometers today. First all the way to Tanah Merah for a brief stop at my family's place before heading south again to Kuala Terengganu. We didn't arrive at the Solehah guest house which belongs to Safuan's family until nearly midnight.

Early the next morning we left Kuala Terengganu and drove another 100 miles north to Besut where Hajar lives. The akad nikah ceremony was to be held at a mosque in the district. We did wait for a while before the bride arrive. Maybe she'd like to look her really best today hence the delay.

Since we didn't get the chance to have any breakfast and my kids were screaming for food already, we went to an eatery nearby to have a late breakfast. Little that we know the eatery serves expired cakes, ant infested paus and other rotten food at their place. Yuks.

But today is not about us. It's Safuan's big day so empty stomachs and prolonged waiting time are really no big of a deal for us. The important thing is Safuan's wedding goes smoothly as planned.

We didn't get to eat a proper meal until after 2:00 in the afternoon so understandably all of us we definitely ravished by then.

After the ceremony we returned back to the guest house and rest for a while before going out again, sight-seeing in Kuala Terengganu. Believe it or not but the last time I stepped my foot in Kuala Terengganu was at least 20 years ago when I was just a little kid. Actually we wanted to find a clinic because Adam is coughing really bad today but unfortunately since Saturday here in the east coast is like Sunday from where I cane from, all the clinics is closed for the day.

So in the end we just bought some cough syrup from a pharmacy and hope for the best. For dinner we stopped by a restaurant facing the Teluk Ketapang beach. Not only we had to wait for ages for our food to arrive, we also had to pay a cutthroat price for the average-tasting food. Moral of the story is: if you eat anywhere near a beach, be prepared to pay for the "sea breeze tax".

I do hope Adam feels better tomorrow. Poor guy threw up half a dozen times already this evening.

21 November 2009

To think that we almost skipped this event and send Adam packing with his Grandma back home to Pasir Mas. It would have been the miss of the century. First of all Adam's mates will be one member short, he'll miss all the glamor and prizes awarded to him and most of all, he won't get to have a really good time with his friends and teachers.

I'm so glad that we actually go there in the end. Cyberjaya Lake Community Club is quite a beautiful place. Located next to the Multimedia University, it's got a lake and a park, a driving range, a go-kart track and of course the main club house itself. Cyberjaya the town on the other hand is really a shame.

Although situated just next door to Putrajaya, the place is not as beautiful or shiny as it's famous neighbour. Somehow it lacks the charm and organization of Putrajaya. The signboards and sidewalk is dilapidated and lacks some TLC and even the lamp posts are quite ugly ordinary. In a nutshell, Cyberjaya the centre for Multimedia Super Corridor is like the ugly step sister of Putrajaya, the administrative capital of the country.

Maybe it's because they're under different owners and administration. If that's so then Cyberview Sdn Bhd really sucks and don't know how to manage a town.