Happy Birthday,Scorpions!

"The beauty of a Scorpio woman is exceptional,mysterious and totally magnetic.She knows that and proud of herself.She knows how to hypnotize a man and gets successful,more often than not.With those beautiful, penetrating eyes of hers,she can read exactly what's on your mind.A Scorpio girl is extremely jealous and fiercely possessive of her loved ones.On the other hand,you'll have to control your jealousy,since she will be attracting a lot of members from the opposite sex.Determination and will power are her basic personality traits.She has a sense of fairness and justice.A Scorpio woman can drown you in her passion.Once you win her love,you will never be lonely again.You will always come back to a spotless home,radiating with the aura of her magnetic personality,the charm of her deep beauty,and the warmth of her everlasting love!"

No doubt that it is the month of the year when Scorpions rule the entire world.On every November,they age another year gracefully and spread their charm.Oh,don't be jealous!Everybody gets their turn to rule,right? 

Everybody celebrates the fact that they're getting older in their own special way,including these 2 young Scorpions...

Since we both fancied Japanese cuisine,we started off our celebration that evening with dinner at a Tokyo Cuisine Restaurant called Ozeki.I normally dined at Ozeki with my parents during Ramadhan month,so taking my future sister-in-law to dine there,at the end of a November,was the first for me.Besides serving great Japanese food,with not-so reasonable prices I might add,I adored the ambience of the restaurant which was neither crowded nor noisy.It was definitely the right place to have intimate personal conversation between 2 or more people as most of the tables were separated by partitions.

It didn't seem fair to not introduce my future sis-in-law,Kak Aza,to my fellow blog readers,like I always did when new characters made their debuts on my previous posts.So here it goes.

Kak Aza is the elder beautiful sister of Sweetie Pie.She's married to a wonderful man we called Abg Nik and blessed with 4 witty rascals.Those rascals made their debut on my previous blog posts,so I'll just skip their introductions.She's an independent,strong Scorpio woman who has been raising her children with her bare 2 hands,without any help from a maid.She's a full time dedicated housewife and my personal close friend =)

I was quite glad that Kak Aza loved the selection of food I ordered at Ozeki coz trust me,I'm hardly a good judge when it comes to the level of tastiness of food.I'd eventually say 'Great' to food that should make their grand entrance to the dustbin and 'Ok' to those which should be awarded with 5 gold stars.I guess it also indirectly explained why I was never good in the kitchen too =P

After there was nothing left to be munched on the sashimi and beef carpaccio plates,we left Jalan P.Ramlee and headed to Gardens,Midvalley.We have decided on a movie to watch and purchased the tickets online.Well actually,it was more like I have decided on the perfect movie to watch while Kak Aza just agreed =P I've been wanting to watch the final sequel of the Twilight Sagas since it premiered on the 24th and I was lucky enough that Kak Aza actually followed the saga too.Not religiously of course,unlike myself.

Signature's Gold Class hall was fully booked that night.Our seats were perfectly placed at the last row,with the greatest view of the screen.I couldn't afford to settle for an 'OK' view of screen with it comes to witnessing great acting by the object of my affection,Robert Pattinson.Well,I believe there's no need to elaborate more on that as most of you might already aware of my crazy obsession towards Rob Pattinson by now =P

Both of us were getting comfy on the huge seats.

Overall,Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Part 1 was satisfactory.Hardly has action,but emotionally touching til I could see tears watering Kak Aza's big eyes.Hehehe.Coz they vaguely watered mine too ='( They pictured Bella's wedding,pregnancy and death perfectly,just like in the book.Oh and the soundtracks were breathtaking!I loved the fact that they recycled the tracks from Twilight.Now,I just couldn't wait for Part 2 to be shown next year as I'd be the first standing in the ticket line.

To Pear,if you ever need companion to watch Breaking Dawn,I'd be more than willing to go watch the movie for the 2nd time and drool over the entire magical intimate moments between Edward and Bella ;D

So there were no cakes or candles to be blown,but Kak Aza and I were capably happy with our own idea of a birthday celebration.We had a great time blowing our minds with internal gossips and sharing of personal experiences.Well,a Scorpio should definitely learn as much as she can about life from another fellow mature Scorpio.Afterall,we both sting to survive!

I'm guessing that you folks have started enjoying your lovely long weekend with lists of plans.I'll be stucked waiting by the phone to be called for next available flight til the end of the month,but it's alright.Hope I'll have better luck next time.Have fun & good night for now =)

Date Of The Year

Marriage is like a sorority in college that every student (mostly girls) are desperately hoping to pledge.Those who are lucky enough to have found their soulmates are most likely to be planning to be married,while the rest are still struggling kissing their frogs,hoping them to magically transform into prince charming.Before marriage,there lies a wedding,a formal ritual of celebration of a marriage.And before a wedding,the desperate need of choosing the right date of the wedding sneaks in.

Fortunately,2011's 11th November fell perfectly on a glorious Friday.All to-be-married couples around the world grabbed hold of the date,wanting to make it special for themselves.Including my younger close cousin,Angah.

Angah's nikah ceremony took place at Rumah Limas Yayasan Warisan Johor in Johor Bahru.She was married to a football superstar of Johor FC team,Khairi,who's also known as Burut.As busy as I was,I managed to make a return trip to JB on that particular date to witness the merriment.

Tragic enough,everyone was on time for the ceremony except....for the celebrated bride herself.

The couple had decided to tie the knot after Isya' conducted by a well known veteran Imam,who was also committing himself to conduct 2 more akad nikah ceremony right after Angah & Burut's,so the Imam was present right on time at the venue.Burut arrived shortly after,but there was absolutely no sign of the bride.According to her sisters,the makeup artist came so late that he started dolling up the bride only during Maghrib.Can you imagine the hassle and rush?

By 8.30pm,the bride was still out of sight.We,ladies,have started to panic with sweat on our foreheads.The bride's family members kept calling her mobile but she kept saying she was on the way.The Imam couldn't wait any longer so he started the ritual without her.

Tok Imam was browsing through the legal documents,in an attempt to stall the ceremony while the bride was on the way there.

Just right before akad,the beautiful bride finally showed up.It was obvious that her hands were shaky,feeling extremely nervous.

Alhamdulillah,with only 1 attempt of lafaz from the groom,they were officially man and wife.It was a touching moment for me to see my younger cousin,who used to play lubang tikus and lompat getah with me when we were younger,had finally moved on to another phase of her life.

From the look on her face,we could tell that she was obviously very happy to be married to her soul mate.

Couldn't be happier for both of them =)

From the top (clockwise) : Burut,Ayah Long (father of bride),granny,Angah,myself,Balqis (younger sister of bride),Ika (youngest sister of bride),and Kak Huda (eldest sister of bride).

Well,the theme for Angah's nikah ceremony was Arabic so all guests were encouraged to wear kaftans or jubahs.I managed to find a kaftan for myself just a few days before the ceremony as I'm hardly a fan of either kaftans or jubahs.But it seemed to be unfair that neither of the gentlemen were found to be wearing jubahs including the groom himself.I guess themes were meant for the ladies to obey to,but not gentlemen =P

Anyway,after wishing the lovely couple the best of luck in their marriage and bid farewell,Sweetie Pie and I made our way back to KL and had to resist the temptation of attending the couple's dinner reception the next day,due to work commitments.But I was glad with the fact that I managed to witness the couple's memorable sacred moment of officially committing themselves to being man and wife.It was priceless.

Before I go,again,I would like to wish Angah and Burut 'Selamat Pengantin Baru' and make me an aunt a.s.a.p.!Hehe =D

Goodnight folks.

Shanghai Horror

Hotel rooms can be terrifying.This comes from a girl who never fails to sleep with the lights and TV on,when alone in her hotel room,during nightstops at every single station.Since 2004,I might add.But nothing's more frightening than the prospect of being disturbed even before you get to feel the bed.

Alright,before we get to the heavy stuffs,lets rewind a few hours before.As soon as we landed in Shanghai that Friday afternoon,a few of us planned to hit the famous shopping district in Shanghai,Nanjing Road,just right before dinner time.At Nanjing Road,I managed to restrain myself from spending on the desirable unnecessaries and had fun watching the rest clearing their pockets.

As for the usual routine of nightstop in Shanghai,it was always a Mongolian treat right after shopping,then finally back to the hotel.But that night,we modified the routine and headed towards a new happening halal Indonesian restaurant not far from our hotel.It was called the Bali Bistro.

The dishes were not that bad.Tasty but I regretted ordering its ayam penyet.Some might aware of how critical my intolerance towards spicy food was and still is,but not this company.The 3 of them practically laughed on how I reacted towards the incredibly spicy ayam penyet and how I desperately gasped for air after tasting it.

Stewardess Janny,Co-pilot Farez,myself & steward Faidz.

Since I was bloated with glasses of water and not even full yet,I dragged them to our usual eating spot in Shanghai,a Mongolian restaurant for some juicy lamb skewers.We didn't actually sat there and ate,we walked and ate,enjoying Shanghai's night air.

Fun was over so it was time to hit the sacks.Before we went out earlier,all I have time for was changing into my casual attire and let my hair loose off the croissant while in the room.As I reached my room after dinner,usually the 1st thing I would do was turning on the TV,so I did.It happened that the TV's volume was at its maximum,99,and it blasted loudly as if the previous guest had organized a party in there!I quickly turned the volume down using its remote but it took me awhile to figure out which were the volume buttons as everything on the remote was scribbled in Chinese.Then the volume slowly went down from 99 to 50 and below,but as it reached number 30++,it automatically went up to 99 again eventhough I was clicking the minus button!I kept on clicking the minus button,panic with the extremely loud sound but it wouldn't budge!

I continued doing whatever that crossed my mind such as knocking the remote by the desk and chair to make it work again,but that big freaking number 99 was there on the screen,as if it was challenging me on a duel!Running out of idea on how to turn down the volume,I switched off the TV immediately and called front desk to send a technician up to my room.

The technician that came up hardly spoke English,so he just nodded his head as I told him what happened to the remote that wouldn't obey me.When he turned on the TV,of course as expected,the volume was still at 99 and with just 1 attempt,the technician managed to turn the volume down using the remote.It magically obeyed him without question.The technician tested the remote further by clicking other buttons as well,and it looked like it didn't need a knock on the desk or chair.The technician gave me a funny smirk and passed me the remote,and of course,the remote worked pretty well.

By 11pm,I already had garfield eyes as a sign I couldn't stay up longer.I fell in a deep sleep,with the lights and TV on,just the way I loved it.But guess what happened at 2am?

I was awaken by the sound coming from the TV and again...the freaky 99 was on the screen!The TV blasted so loudly that I almost had a heart attack when waking up.I searched for the remote around me,guessing that I've accidentally turned up the volume while sleeping,but to my dismay,it was perfectly placed NEXT to the TV,ON the TV rack,totally OUT of my reach,where the technician placed it last!Can you believe that?!I got even more stressful when the remote decided not to obey me again.I kept on clicking on the minus button but nothing worked!I quickly approached the TV to look for its manual button somewhere around its frame and finally,that manual button obeyed me.Pheww!!

As I crawled back into bed,the hairs on the back of my neck all stood up.The room felt colder and suddenly,it occurred to me that the warning given by a fellow colleague was absolutely relevant.She told me her spooky experience in a particular room at our hotel in Shanghai while she was nightstopping there a few weeks ago.She was disturbed by the flickering of her bed lamp at 3am & when she decided to freshen up in the bathroom,it was locked from the inside.Panic,she called the the front desk to send someone to check it out after a few attempts of trying to turn the knob.But as the attendants arrived at the room,with just 1 attempt,the bathroom door was opened and obviously unlocked.

As the flashes of her story was playing on my mind,suddenly my window was tapped.When I turned to look at the window,the tapping stopped,but as I tried to shove myself under the duvet,the tapping started again.After awhile,the tapping turned into knocking as if somebody out there was angry that I didn't bother checking it out.Only God knew how I felt at that moment,so I turned to God.With all the hairs at the back of my neck still standing up,I tapped the Yassin application on my iPhone and started reciting it.I recited it til it was finally 4am and all the tapping/knocking bullshit disappeared.I managed to tuck myself in and slept peacefully.

That night,I wasn't the only 1 haunted.It turned out that a supervisor of mine didn't get her sleep due to disturbances too.I didn't wana believe that our hotel accommodation in Shanghai was haunted coz we've been staying there for decades and nothing as such ever happened to any of us until recently.But at this point,I'm almost hoping there was a ghost in my hotel room.Otherwise,I was probably cuckoo.Out of my mind!

Well,the creep show didn't stop there at the hotel.There had been creepy shows on our flight back to KL itself.But this time it wasn't ghost,but very bad luck that followed us around.1st,our aircraft was grounded for 4 hours in Shanghai due to technical problems.We patiently waited til the engineers gave us the thumbs up for us to go.After we took off,there were incidents took place in the economy.An attention seeking passenger yelling at a crew in the cabin with his index finger pointing straight at the crew's face wasn't enough to create havoc.Adding up,a passenger collapsed on the cabin floor after he had his dinner.It was lucky that all of us were trained being first aiders in a medical emergency situation to attend the victim.Necessary aids were rendered to the victim before 2 medical doctors traveling as passengers on board came to help.It turned out the victim was suffering hyperglycemia,and suffocation due to poor ventilation in the cabin caused by passengers themselves.

Remember folks,when you travel on medium to long haul flights,avoid from shutting the air vents above your head off.The air vents help to ventilate proper oxygen in the cabin to inhale throughout the flight.If you folks feel cold,turn its direction away from you but don't ever shut it off.Wear a suitable attire when traveling to avoid uneasiness or lack of comfort while onboard.If a sleeveless shirt or mini skirts are your idea of comfort inflight,then don't push the freaking attendant button complaining that the cabin is too cold for you.

Okay,looking at the condition where I am home alone right now,I'm guessing it is enough of spooky stories for a day.Before I forget,Salam Aidil Adha to my family members,dearest Muslim friends and blog readers.Hope you've enjoyed your korban and continue to enjoy the public holiday tomorrow :)