Goodbye Mr. Loh... wish me luck Sir!

My boss n I, for the last time as Majakirians.. *sniff sob

Today has been a day of mixed emotions. Happy that we celebrated our annual lunch for my school in a posh hotel (newly renovated palace hotel).. but it is also the last day of service for my principal Mr. Loh Kok Cheang (Pengetua Cemerlang). He will be moving on to another school called SMK Tebobon. as you all might remember, last year was a horrendous one for me where i was kicked around and treated like absolute dirt. mr loh came to my rescue and saved the day for me.. but now he's going away, and gosh.. this will be my third time facing a new principal. no one knows who it will be... will it be another fanatic nightmare of a man/woman? only time will tell... so wish me luck Sir and everyone out there.
We had a graduation ceremony... can u spot me? ;-)

I wrote him a poem and i think i'll post it here so that when i look back, i will always remember how much i owed him, and what i promised him. This is dedicated to an inspirational leader.. Mr. Loh Koh Cheang.

In my darkest hour
there was a glimmer of light
piercing into my cave of despair
when the waves of woe
threatened to flood this cavernous dungeon
you became my beacon of hope
saved me from being helplessly swept away
on the tumultuous tide of remorse
rescued my weak heart from its drowning fate
when you reached out your steadying hand
and righted me against the tempestuous winds
that were beating my sorry spirit down..

Oh how the clouds of doubt magically cleared
and the flamboyant rainbow burst
into a colourful song of hope chorused by
the golden tune of sunrays dancing gaily
on the canvass of a pristine sky
orchestrating my life's new beginning
the rebirth of a fallen soul.

Thank you is a drop in the ocean,
gratitude is too feeble a word
gratefulness cannot contain the depths
of my sincerest appreciation
mere words seem lost in translation.

So in return..
I pledge to rise above the limits of myself
as you have led by example
and I shall bear the torch forward
lending my humble candlelight
so it may fire others into action
propelling them forward to meet
their flaming destiny
as you have had a fated hand
in shaping mine.

Besra's 3rd!

My girl is a very lucky lil chick.. ;-) she's 3 now, and she's had a birthday celebration for each one. hehe.. so many people love my lil girl, and it shows. :-P had a great turn out... with lots of food, beer, pizza, cake (thanks steeve n jo!), desserts (choc brownies n peaches n cream! yum), water guns and paddle pools.. and the huge playground in front of our apartment too.. ;-)

Mommy loves her lil girl! Kiss kiss.. n here's a shot of her licking her knife.. haha, jordan, her cousin refused to eat the cake after that, but hey, it's besra's cake afterall..she can do whatever she likes with it! hehe

This pressie was from luvy... bes got tons of dresses, accessories and some great toys and educational stuff.. ;-) she's one lucky gal! Thanks ya'all for the lovely wishes n your great company! Besra will look back one of these days n remember how everyone loves her so.

This is me on my balcony with jordan, sis in law jo, and super Ericman.. hehe... we had great laughs that day, esp gossiping with paul n mior about a certain fella.. boy we're bad! but we're so good at being bad, right eric?!

And here's besra n the kids having a splashing good time in the paddle pools.. weeeee!!!


She does like her posing doesnt she! hehehehe... happy birthday again, my sweet angel Besra!

Couldnt resist!

I was driving to work on fri and saw this amazing cloud... it looked like a shopping mall... haha. the sky was super blue and all the clouds decided they wanted to be huddled together, rising up from the ground with a swirl of straightness at the top as if to even out the building like shape. who can explain to me the name and type of cloud this is? omnibus? succubus? hehe i hv no blinkin idea! hehe..
anyway, cloud aside, this is the general view on the way to school. living in the suburbs means greenery all around accented by a few houses sporadically arranged along the main road and amongst flourishing rice fields.. i drive by it so often that the calming beauty and peace of the kampung lifestlye is rarely appreciated.. so here i am blogging about it, so that the kl-lites can go green with envy of my polutant-free zone.. and then for u guys to snigger that the big city girl audrey has finally ended up as a kampung chick (village girl)! interesting how life turns out eh!!!
and now for the continuation of my unending public works rant.. haha.. or in this case, private works. friday i went to the mall with good friend ainul, and my right heel slams into a tile that's jutting out... needless to say a lot of expletives entailed and i huffed n puffed away from the danger zone.. lo and behold, whaddaya know, the very next day i'm back at the mall (where i teach adult english classes at college in case you're wondering, not that i'm a shoppaholic!).. and there are actually people fixing the tiles at the crime scene which nearly took off my right foot! hehehe.. well, well, well.. whatddaya know!

anyway, i was reading the papers.. and the local daily actually printed this ad. and i bet they didnt think twice abt it, cos it's probably what the locals say! hehhehe... can u believe it?? 100 TAILS??? for those not in the know, in the malay language we have what is called 'penjodoh bilangan' which helps quantify the item. we also have it in english... like a 'bunch' of flowers, and a 'pack' of cards. i must say they r more creative in malay as they say things like a 'comb' of bananas and in this case, 100 'tails' (ekor) of deer! i'd blame the bloody malays for their direct translation.. but hey, it was posted by Mr Liew, aka mr chinaman! hahah... so who's to blame for this abuse of the english language??? hehehehehhehee... i dunno!

anyway, it's besra's 3rd birthday tomorrow but we're celebrating early as in 3pm today only cos sundays are more convenient. hving a pizza party. have already prepared peaces and cream... and chocolate brownies.. will do the pizza base just before the party. also having spaghetti and hot sandwiches stuffed with salami n melted cheese! hehehe.. anyone wants a tapau (take away)? ;-) happy birthday girl! mommy n daddy love you to bits n back!

princess n the orchids.. ;-)

seems like my world has gone from complete madness n chaos to starting to be aligned again. planets are not fully aligned yet, but getting there. car is finally fixed. orchids are blooming, lanner just celebrated his 6 mth birthday... and daddy blessed him by anointing him with some ice cold guiness on his lil forehead.. ;-) before polishing off the bottle himself! besra will be 3 years old soon.. and on sunday we'll hv a small pizza party for her. lol.. she demanded to hv the same cake as last year, but this time she wants 'Two Mickey MouseS, mommy' and i didnt hv the heart to correct her plural error.. she'll learn in time. hehe.. just like i dont drill her with her ABCs so much, eventually she'll learn it and she'll prefer the time when she didnt hve to learn how to read n write. lol.. now is the time for her to be an innocent and naive child... !

as for me, i'm swamped with work.. but couldnt help dabbling with my blog today. hehe.. i've got new additions here on the right of the blog.. how cute is that? its called a 'lilypie ticker' hehe..

this month has been super busy and will continue being so for some time to come. just so that i dont forget, i'm going to list it down. so far this month i've conducted a seminar for post pmr creative writing (they successfully wrote their own poems!), a pre-muet intensive speaking workshop just last monday, on the 29th i will run a conversational english course for the teachers of sk st. joseph, hv my regular adult classes every weekend at amc college, and on the 5th of nov will be doing a full day workshop for teachers on Newspapers in Education organised by a local daily and the education dept. gosh my plate is full... ;-) but being needed and wanted and appreciated is so much more rewarding and heartwarming than what i was feeling last year, kicked around like a deflated unwanted useless football who's seen better days. well, u know what they say, once u hit rock bottom, there isnt anywhere else to go but up.
martin is back to strimming the land everyday. it looks more like the wild jungle cos it's been left untended for months.. but he's slowly but surely getting it back under control. we have people working on the electrics..but will hv to wait n see if it can be completed soon enough. time is running out cos roly n his son elliot are coming to visit from england in 2 weeks, and the plan was to move in before they arrive. slim chance if u ask me. anyway, will hv to wait n see.

pink ice-cream, peaches n cream! ;-)

Was at the supermarket with besra last night (my pink ice-cream licking honey bunnie!) when i received a text from ashley... she had listened to eagles' desperado and that triggered memories of our friendship in our salad days. ;-) was very touched that i mean so much to her and vice versa... it's great to have really good friends. true friendship can withstand the test of time, and when together again, the time apart seems inconsequential, as if nothing has changed. that's what it's like with true friends who are kindered spirits!

martin likes to give me the evil eye when i mention the term 'best friend' because according to him, there can only be one best friend. i beg to differ. i have a best friend for different categories and that doesnt mean i love them any less! haha.. my best childhood friend is Linda, she was gorgeous and popular (started getting valentine's bouquets when she was in primary 4 for goodness sake!). Shui Han is my secondary school best classmate friend. Tang is my best school mate/blood sister. Luvy is my lifetime bestfriend and godma of my children. Ashley is my hostel days best friend, kindered spirit for life. Bea is my best friend in hard times & the bestest college days housemate. Doria is my wonderful London days uni mate. & Aloy is my bestfriend teacher/colleague & neighbour. ok ok.. it sounds funny to have so many bests.. but i assure you i love them all to bits! If your name is not on the list, i apologise, but i assure you if i could, everyone would be my Best, and then martin would really get annoyed! hahaha.. i hv a lot of love to give, so dont worry, if you're reading this, i love you!!!

couldnt resist again... haha remember the giraffe story.. lol... i told u they were takin down the bloomin lights... n i wondered if they were gonna replace em with orangutan shaped ones... well lo and behold, i drive past the roundabout in town again and not one, but Three giraffes were up doin the biz... i'm quite disappointed that the latest installments are stupid lily-like multi-coloured blinky flowers. like duh! at least if it were an orangutan or a rafflesia, it would mirror sabah better.. but stupid boring flowers? waste of cold hard cash if u ask me! grrrr!

Yummilicious... i used to make this sinfully scrumptious dessert all the time... abt 8 years ago.. and the teachers at SMK Inanam (my first posting) used to order it all the time. haha.. then i got bored of it but hv recently made it again because the food culture in my new school (SMK Majakir) is fantabulous! haha... so this is called 'Peaches and Cream', with a biscuit base, and cream cheese with sliced peaches arranged like a beautiful orange rose, topped with clear jelly. so incredibly simple to make as it is a no bake cheese cake... and the result is simply heavenly. was just tellin martin last night that if i sold 10 of these i'd make 150 bucks.. lol.. but it takes time and effort and giving tuition is easy money compared to hard labour! haha.. so maybe i'll stick to giving tuition eh. anyway, for those who would like to try it, i'm making it for besra's 3rd birthday bash this sat.. ;-) dont worry betty, i know you're hungry now but u gotta wait till sunday 25th! haha.. as for ashley.. hehe.. you'll hv to wait for me to get there in nov for me to make it especially for u! hah! hugs to all!

random pics.. ;-)

This is what lanner does esp in the wee hrs of the morning when i'd rather be sleeping! hehe.. ain't he adora-bubble?!?! he has taken to flippin onto his belly with ease now, and spends most of the time bobbin his head up n down n giggling.. haha.. i've got a giggler for a baby.. thank god not a crypot! ;-) can u resist his smile? i know i can't! love u lanner!

dropped by the workshop yesterday, and saw my car.. most of the work is done (phewwww!) but still has to be resprayed and realigned. also some minor touch-ups and change of windshield cos sometime in the past a rock hit it and it has a crack. luckily i hv windshield cover but i pay 60 bucks for it annually and the cover is only 400.. hah! kena tipu.. after this i wont buy windshield cover anymore. bikin kaya insurans kompani oni! hehehehe.. anyway, come home soon vroom-vroom.. mommy misses ya like u couldnt believe!
came home late last night after a wonderful meal n chat with longtime school friend Jenny.. had cake in secret recipe which was quite terrible (the tiramisu was a heavy as lead!). anyway, when i got home i baked two carrot cakes with yummy cheese frosting and rainbow sprinkles. one was for a makan-makan (eat-eat) session in the school staffroom and the other was for my lovely colleague Zainah who let me hv her car from sat till tues.. sighs.. dunno where i'd be without good friends like her, so baking a cake in return for her kindness and compassion is a small matter!
this last pic i couldnt resist! another bit of ranting to add to my previous blog! haha... if u look closely enough, there's a giraffe head painted on the human carrier box thingy at the top of the crane.. and the crane itself is painted in giraffe spots n colours! how cute is that... the ranting part starts now so tune out if u dont wanna listen! stupid sabah govt spent tons of taxpayers money on stupid blinky lights in the shape of fake palm trees.. in the middle of the roundabout. one stupid fake palm lamp post is purported to cost around 100,000 bucks! i could be wrong it could be 10,000.. but it's still money right!!! n what are they doin here? mr giraffe is having a fun time ripping out the old blinky lights post.. no doubt to be binned before installing yet another horrific and money-wasting, privelleged contractor's pocket-lining scheme of a lamp post.. i wonder what shape or form it will be in next... an orangutan!?!?!?!?? thus ends my rant of the day. hehe.. sorry!

Can you believe this!!!

This really cracked me up!!! hahah... made me go bonkers when i saw this posted in karamunsing shopping mall in kk.. i've heard of serve no pork being bastardised to 'served no pork' meaning to say they didnt in the past but they do now!!! but this pic up here takes the top prize for the successful bastardisation of the english language.. hehe.. no pork service? lol... does that mean pigs dont wear waitressing outfits n serve you?!!??! hehehehehehehe... anyway, just thought this pic would put a smile on your face.

a long time ago.. maybe 10 years ago now.. when i was living in pandan jaya with beatrice in really horrible run down apartments zone, i saw another prime example of linguistic decapitation just by adding a single letter: hehe.. instead of 'baby sitter wanted'... the moronic advertiser wrote: "baby shitter wanted"................... hahahahahahhahahahahah beat that!!!

and this, ladies n gentlemen.. is a superb example of the quality of malaysia's public works. they paid literally millions to build sabah's mini putrajaya and look at it's condition now.. all the tiles they have put on the outer walls of the entire complex have had to be hacked off if they hadn't already fallen off onto the ground and smashed into smithereens! on the public's heads no less! so some greedy contractor out there is counting his dosh amassed from the million he save by using less cement gum or whatever u call it. and now another contractor is counting his million cos the govt has to pay for new outer walls.. if they'd done it right the first time, the tax payers' money could be put to better use! like to give us 2 months bonus this year! yeah, right.. wishful thinkin i hear u say! lol...

anyway, my last rant for today is the embarassment called 1Borneo mega mall..it was also put up sooooo superman fast that as you walk along the shops... you'll see patches of tile-less areas covered up by cheap tacky carpeting! the tiles hv literally exploded and cracked into millions of bits... cos of the shoddy work done in the first place. anyone who's gone out n bought tiles will know that a 20 by 20 tile is bloody effin expensive! money down the drain again eh..

i lied, i just thought about another thing to rant and rave abt.. what is it with sabah's unimaginativeness!!! property names have been flicked from others.. cant u tell? KK TIMES SQUARE, SURIA KK, BEVERLY HILLS APARTMENTS etc.. as if there isn't any other original names around.. lol.. for those of u who can remember who this character is.. lol.. i ever found a signboard in penampang that says: 'Lorong Flash Gordon'. I havent seen it in a while, but if i'm ever down that road again, i'll double check if it's still there!

haha.. ok.. nuff for today.. will post more pics of kids soon. lol... hubby away on a 4 day road trip with richard to sandakan for sabah's first bird fair... birdwatching.. something i can definitely live without! ;-)

windows n sliding doors at last!!!

Here's a shot of the main man himself stadin on a mound in front of our hse.. sighs.. it's been a long time coming but finally the sliding doors n the windows r in. they r not up to white man's standards, so i can foresee a long list of complaints which will go to the contractor soon. ah well, me? i'm just glad we hv some protection from the horrendous winds n rains that have been hittin us lately... all we need now before we can move in is the electrics done, water connected to first floor (we hv water in all the pipes downstairs so that wont be rocket science right!??!?!) and then i can start installing curtain rails n curtains n air/cons n such.. i cannot wait to move in but it's really taking longer than expected so both martin n i r at the fingernail biting point.. soon we wont hv any left to chew on!!!!

in case you're wondering, its a very simple square house, 40 by 40 ft inside.. but with balcony its 52 by 48 ft. 1 master bedroom, 2 guest rooms, 1 nursery, 1 study, 1 kitchen, 1 living room plus dining area, 3 toilets, a 20 by 20 den downstairs for fishing stuff (but of course!) and studio 20x20 ft beside it. so when it's done, come one, come alll!!! between real beds and blow up beds and sofa beds, we could probably house 20 adults and 10 children.. haha.. lol.. i dunno, we hv yet to see if that's possible!

This balcony is were we'll put a comfy settee and maybe a mahjong table! hahah...its facing the river and on a clear morning, you'll even be able to see mt kinabalu in the distance.. gosh, i'm really counting the days now! one fine day i'll be servin cocktails on my balcony n we'll we sittin n laughing till the sunset disappears before hvin a delish bbq for dinner! cant wait cant wait!

anyway, ashley, doria and pat are three ppl really into house renovation right now, so i can associate with their euphoria and excitement of pimpin up my crib! it will take a lot of money, sweat n trial n errors before it gets perfect but i guess that's the joy of it. it will always be a work in progress and the day it's perfect is the day i stop being picky cos in reality, nothing will ever be 100% perfect right? that's life! ;-)

Lanner LOL... this is me tryin (n succeedin) in makin him laugh!) Adorableee!!!

Some cheerful pics...

I havent put this pic up yet i think... this was actually a few months ago.. when besra went to her first and only playgroup at Kinabalu International School... she had tons of fun there but sadly the school is in KK and on Tuesday so no one is free to take her there... but she had fun making her first masterpiece! if the nanny has kept it properly, it will still be around for her to appreciate her first work of art when she's old enough to comprehend it! Go girl!
This is Besra doin the pocahontas look.. hehe.. she's not allowed to cut her hair, as is mum, so my girl will have lovely long brown hair which according to daddy, will keep the boys keen. hmmmm...
This is Lanner boy havin a bath.. in his green tub.. it was besra's green tub.. who else chose it if not my green mad husband!! haha.. boy loves his baths.. no crying involved. he's now abt 8kgs.. huge, really strong and spends most of his days either sleepin or smiling and laughing... i'm really blessed!
Besra amazed me the other day.. she drew us freehand, with no guidance or tutelage and has gone from squiggles to stick figures with head, eyes and mouth along with body cum legs. haha.. amazing! could u draw like this when u were 2 years 11 months? i dont think i did!!!! hehe.. anyway, pic above is daddy and pic below is me. notice how she drew me with an hourglass figure!!! hahahahhaha... how cool is that!
anyway, life is back to normal minus the car n the endless papers chase now.. yesterday rushed from workshop to JPJ office to sort out driver's license but apparently u cant do that unless you've done the identity card thing first.. argh!!! will hv to go deal with that today.

anyway, am staying positive n thinkin happy thoughts. i'm extremely touched by all the lovely comments i've received both here n on facebook... it helps to know ppl care so much.. in fact, it's the balm that's healin my wounds right now. a million thanks u guys, n i hope i can be there for u too in your time of need! hugs all!