Report Cards and Mafia Dad...

I overheard Aunty Beast talking to her daughter yesterday about Friday being the kid's school open day. It is the day when parents are called to collect their children's report cards. Hence, she'll be taking the day off to do the same.

The mere mention of report card day brings me back to 1992, when I was still in form 2...

Being a small-sized girl back then (I was a late bloomer), I was always the target for the guys to pick on. They just love to bully me into letting them copy my homework, especially Math. Sitting in between 4 best friends does not help the situation at all. The four of them would usually drive me mad by pulling my hair from the back, making me listen to them singing all the karat and jiwang malay songs, poking my back with weird objects, to name a few.

As a defense, I kept telling them that my dad will shoot them if they ever pull my hair again (kids!). Hence, come report card day, I was wearing a smug on my face when one of the guys came running into the class..

U: Guys, Binx's dad is here.. And you guys better watch out.. He looks like a mafia..
A: Yeah rite.. I'm not scared..
S: *took a peek outside the classroom's window* I think you should be afraid..
A: Errkk.. yeah.. With the black suit and back-combed hair.. He does look like the godfather..
Binx: *rotflol and ran to greet dad*

be afraid.. be very afraid...

Since then the guys stopped bugging me (yeah rite..). They stopped the irritating poking larr.. However, the joke cracking never stopped. In fact, they started calling me the mafia's daughter..

U: Eh.. don't go making the mafia's daughter angry ok.. nanti dia report to her dad..

=====================================

I was going through all my files today and found the report cards folder.

Wow... flipping through the clear folder actually brings back lots of happy and funny memories. Imagine going through the report card you received since you were 5 years old till form 3. It was a self-discovery trip down memory lane. I can't even remember each and every subject I took when I was in Kindergarten. However, from the look at my grades - well, I did great as a 5 year old :D.

I did struggle when I was in primary school. I was never smart back then. I am not smart pun now *lol*. I guess I was too busy enjoying life to even bother about all the 'C's that kept appearing in my report card. Alaaa apa laa sangat 'C's for arts, pendidikan jasmani and music *winks*...

The best part about the student progress report was the student record card that keeps track on student's development. Remember the 'Apa saya hendak jadi bila saya besar' column? Haaaa... take a look at my ambitions when I was in standard 1 - 6.

Std 2: 1) Kerani 2) Guru 3) Doktor
Std 3: 1) Guru 2) Peramugari 3) Jurutaip *rotflol*
Std 4: same as above
Std 5: 1) Guru 2) Doktor 3) Peguam
Std 6: 1) Guru 2) Usahawan 3) Doktor Haiwan

What? No accountant? And 'jurutaip'? What was I thinking? Hahahaha... Sakit perut gelak...

When I entered secondary school, I guess I have made my mind to go into the accounting line..

Form 1 : 1) akauntan 2) peguam 3) doktor
Form 2: same as above
Form 3: same as above



So, what do you want to be when you grow up?




binx: look.. i'm a jurutaip! all i do is type.. type.. type..

Yet Another Meme...

I didn't realise that I was tagged twice with this one, by Acat and Kiezamy.

Like always, here goes...


1) Total number of books I own:

If I were to keep track, I think I'd become a librarian by now. We were brought up in a family that loves to read, that we even have one room full of books back in our old house. Books from various genres filled the room, i.e. politics, autobiographies, poetry, literature, romance, teen romance, comics and many more. However, we've sold most of the books last year when we moved out from the house. All those books for just under RM50... What a ripped off...!!

2) The last book I bought:

The CIMA Study System: Management Accounting - Business Strategy
The CIMA Study System: Management Accounting - Financial Strategy
Fun eh... Well, I have to study kan.. Thus, I have to wait until December before I can purchase the next chicklit that I've been dying to read.


3) The last book I read:

The Family Way - Tony Parsons
It's the story about how 3 sisters go through their lives after their parent's divorce and how it has affected their love lives. Reading the book somehow got me thinking of how my own life will end up. Will me and my sisters end up like Cat, Jessica and Megan? However, like a typical Tony Parson book, the storyline is a tad bit draggy and slow. Wish he could add in more colors to the characters to make the story more interesting.


4) 5 books that mean a lot to me:

i. Paradise by Judith McNaught
It was the 1st thick, adult book that I read. Found it in my sister's room when I was looking for something to read in class after the PMR exam. At first, I thought it was really impossible for me to read such thick book. However, after few pages, I realised that I can't seem to put it down. The next thing I knew, I was curling up in bed, so absorbed in the Chicago corporate world romance of Meredith and Mathew Farrell. It is my favorite book by the author so far.

ii. Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
Read this book during my trip to one of the estates in Johor Lama during my training stint way back 2003. It kept me up most of the nights, despite the long days we had venturing into the oil palm estates. The story of a love lost and found and how the bond between father and son grew stronger amidst all the crisis they faced in the family.

iii. The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella
The great adventure of Ms Rebecca Bloomwood... Fun fun fun adventure into the mind of Becky, the shopaholic. From the 1st book where she was the financial reporter who knows nuthing about how to manage her own money, I grew to love the wacko yet loveable character. Her adventure in New York, her wedding preparations, her one year honeymoon, then her discovery of her long lost sister was a real page turner. There was never a dull moment whenever Becky's around... Can't wait for the release of the latest Shopie Kinsella's book..

iv. Love Story by Erich Segal
Discovered this old story book during the MRSM days. I remember crying till my eyes were swollen the next day. It is a very sad novel, written by one of the best author thus far. I wish I can get my hands on a copy of the book again. Maybe I should try and order it through MPH online..

v. The Sweet Valley series by Francine Pascal

These were the books that I grew up with. Starts from the Sweet Valley Kids, Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High. I remember hiding in the school library, choosing which book to borrow for the day, every single day in primary school. Then walking in the hot sun to Jaya Jusco to buy the latest SVH book during secondary school. Those were the days when I dream to live the life of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield.. *lol* I wished I have kept the collection of books that I own to be handed down to my kids instead of selling it cheap to the 2nd hand bookstore last year *sob* *sob*...


5) Who am I passing this meme to:

None... But you are welcome to do it anyway... *winks*



binx: i want to read storybooks...!!

No Work Weekend....

I was planning to finish up my work over the weekend.. However, I ended up...


1. Staying up late on Friday nite, catching up with Lil Sis. She's back for the holiday and didn't stop talking since she set foot in my car when we picked her up at the airport. The girl kept on talking all the way through her supper, which was what she ordered even 2 days before she got back - cheese nan and chicken tandoori. We thought that 3 hours of talking was enough for her.. but instead she continued yapping away up until 3.30 am.... I ended up sleeping at almost 4 am that Saturday morning.

2. Sleeping at 12 pm on a Saturday afternoon. Woke up early that morning because I had promised to go for breakfast with Syam and Nurul at La Bodega, Bangsar. I had to force myself out of bed and put on a cheerful face for breakfast. Luckily the breakfast spread was delicious as usual and the Hot Mocha did a good job at keeping my eyes wide open during the 2 hours catch-up session. However, by the time I reached home and caught a sight of my comfy bed, I just could resist to dive into the duvet and zzzz.... The next thing I knew, it was already 6 pm.

3. In front of the TV for almost 4 hours watching the Akademi Fantasia concert. Yeah.. I've caught the fever. This has been my weekly routine since the 1st season of the show, 2 years back. heheehe...

4. Fixing my notebook's wi-fi connection. The connection doesn't seem to be working since Friday night. Hence, spent the whole Saturday and today trying to figure out what went wrong. I even tried comparing the setting with Mum's notebook's setting just to make sure that everything was in order. Someone even suggested me to give my notebook a little 'jentik'. The desperate Binx did everything that she think was possible to try to make it work, but to no avail. However, after hours of going through the content of the notebook, I found one menu that had managed to solve the problem - system restore. I just pressed the menu and set the system to be restored to the day before the problem started - Thursday... and tadaaaa.. I'm back on the virtual world... Penat aje trying to play around with the tcp/ip setting laa, etc etc..



I had a great weekend without even touching any of the files that I brought back. I know that it will cost me my time during the coming week, but heck it laaa... I am glad that I actually get to spend my time fully with my family and friends.



binx: happy father's day to all fathers out there...

OBS Revisited...

It's the time of the year again where my company sends its new employees for some rough training in the Outward Bound School (OBS), Lumut. The course was made compulsory for all execs in order to ensure that the company's executives are tough enough to face the corporate challenges (yeah rite)..

I remembered the time when I had to attend the OBS back in 2003. Being the latest member of the Group's family, the management trainees were part of the 17 people that were sent to Lumut. We were very excited about the trip, despite the fact that most of us were not physically fit to rough it out in the mud. However, we were given early warnings to do some light (so to speak) exercise so that our body/muscles will not be terkejut once we get there.

OBS was great... Even though we were cut off from the rest of the world (everything were confiscate i.e: wallets, phones, ciggies and etc.) we managed to entertain each other during the 5 days adventure.

Some of the great/unforgettable moments in OBS:-

• Kayak Expedition : Lumut - Pangkor
• We had to kayak for almost 2 hours to Pangkor. At 1st it was fun because everything was exciting. However, we had to raft in the middle of the open sea due to one of the team that were too weak to be teamed up together. Hence, we needed to re-shuffle the teammates in order to balance it up. And guessed who had to jumped kayak in the middle of the ocean? The lil' Binx yang ringan and yang will not rock the kayak.. "Weeeee... weee...", I jumped... and ended put with a girl partner. Long gone my strong knight in shining life jacket.. Soon after that, the kayaking were very tiresome. Ye la.. two girls pushing the paddles against the rough sea.. not an easy task tau.
• On our way back, when the two of us were to weak to paddle anymore.. our very-menyakitkan-hati instructor came on his speedboat and screamed through the loud hailer..
  "Kamu berdua tuh.. cepat sikit kayuh.. ada kapal nak lalu"
  "Penat laa Encik.. tak larat dah nieh..."
  "Kapal nak lalu tuh.. cepat kayuh.. kalau tak kamu berdua habis laa.."
  Both of us thought it was another one of his sick joke.. However, we turned to check out the scene and saw a HUGE ship about 2km away heading straight towards us.. Our face turned white at the sight of the ship and suddenly our hands acquired a super duper power and started to peddle super mighty fast.. It must have been quite a sight laaa.. Macam a scene from a cartoon movie pulak.. All I remembered after that was collapsing as soon as we reach the shore and threw up.
  
• Hiking expedition : Pangkor
• One of the team member decided to call it quits half way through the expedition. Since it was a group expedition, when one member quits, the whole team will be failed by the instructor for not completing the task. Most of us were determined to complete the trail and had to coaxed E to resume the tracking. It was not an easy task though because she was afraid of heights and being a city girl, it was hard for her to adapt to the rough situation. However, after promising her that the rest of the journey will be a smooth one, we managed to persuade her to continue. Yipee...!
• However, the rest of the trip was not a smooth one as promised. Since E almost quit, the instructor showed us a shorter way out of the jungle. This route doesn't seem like it had been use for ages. Hence, it was a difficult trail even for the rest of us. "Jauh lagi ke korang... I dah tak larat nieh....." "We're almost there, E. Sekejap aje lagi nieh..".. Despite the tough challenge, we kept ourselves entertained with silly songs like the OBS song..
  "We got the OB spirit up in my head.. up in my head.. up in my head.. " *lol*
• Since the hike took longer than we expected, we accidentally miscalculated our water supply. At first some of us sanggup tak minum because of the yucky-looking water tumbler supplied by the school. But after the long and tough journey, we ended up finishing off the water in each and every yucky-looking water tumbler that we brought with us.. By the time we reached the nearest kampung, some of the thick-skin members actually went to one of the houses to replenish the bottles with tap water.. Tap water pun tap water laa kan cause we were very thirsty. Oh well, that's what they call roughing it out.
• The attack of the Lanuns
• We were warned about them eve before we left the camp in Lumut. Their presence on the island is well known, especially at the camp site area. Rumor has it that the head of the clan actually have one leg and wears an eye patch. How far is it from the truth, we don't know laa because we only saw the kuncu-kuncu Lanuns..
• Our arrival were welcomed by them with loud cheers. As we unpacked all our stuffs, all eyes were on our food supply. Each and everyone of them tried to strategize on the best ways to get to our food supplies. You can actually see their excited eyes thinking. However, we, being the super duper smart executives, kept our food in a huge plastic container with tight-shut lid that were held down by heavy stones. Punya laa takut our food kena curi by the lanuns. The first thing that we checked when we arrived back to our camp place after the long hike was our food container. And luckily it was still there where we left it earlier.
• However, our camp was attacked by the lanun during breakfast the next morning. We were ambushed from right, left, front, back and even above. One smart lanun even positioned himself right above me, on the tree branches, while I was cooking the scrambled eggs on the open fire. There I was, minding my own business, scrambling those eggs and suddenly,
  "plooooooooooooooopppp!!!"
  " Aggghhh... yucksss.... Korang... dia berak in the eggs.........!!!"
  If the smart lanun had moved an inch to its right, it would have missed its target and the taik would have landed on yours truly. I shudder at the thought of it. Oh well, there goes our breakfast for the day..
• When we were packing our stuffs to go back to Lumut, one of out teammates realised that one of our compasses were missing.. After searching high and low for it, we suddenly saw another smart lanun dangling the thing high up on the tree branch. Apa lagi.. all of us tried to coaxed the lanun to drop it laa kan.. Some of us tried to throw stuffs at it, some even tried to umpan it with food.
  "Darling.. mintak laa compass tuh.. we all nak balik nieh..."
  "Apa yang korang suma bising2 nieh?"
  "Encik, lanun tuh ambik our compass.. We've tried our best to get it back.. but tak dpt.."
  "Oh.. senang aje.. Ukk Ukk.. Aaakk.. Aaaak..."
  And at that instant the lanun dropped the compass...
  "Oh.. macam tuh ke.. Cakap laa awal2..."

If I were given another chance attend the course, I would. It was the most interesting trip I've ever been to. However, I would love to try out the 25-days camp instead.. mesti best kan.. However, the next time around I would make sure no lanun squatting above my head at any time...




binx: still phobia over the incident..

When Binx Meets Teek

Met this girl, up close and personal, last weekend. Finally!!!! Tuh pun nearly tak jadi because someone tuh almost had a nervous breakdown when I decided to call her up instead of replying her text msgs.. Terkejut tuh.. So terkejut that her voice actually squeaked out (kutu-like) nervously with silent intervals every now and then. Seriously, I felt like a guy calling up a girl pulak time tuh. *lol*

I've finally managed to convince her that I am not a serial killer and I am a straight girl and I only like men and not girls to get her to agree to meet up. I was actually very doubtful about her showing up at the agreed place and time due to her nervous attack.. even though she was the one who asked me out this time around. Luckily she was there when I turned up at the agreed location.

My first impression? She look soooo baik one. And very quiet, like a mute kutu (teek = kutu) *winks*. The first encounter went smoothly.. errmm.. with minor glitch laaa.. Our movie was scheduled at 11.40 am, which left us with almost 30 mins with nuthing much to do but to tawaf the complex. However, a round in the big complex might be an easy task if you were with someone you've known for ages. But with someone whom you just met might be a challenging task, especially when the person was all jittery and tongue tied. hahahaha.. Seriously macam first date.. Wait.. first date pun not as bad as that.

Hey.. I didn't say that the whole thing was bad... I just said that it was a bit awkward at first. Luckily I was able to save the day by rambling about any topic that came to mind. Sorry girl if I came off as a chatterbox pulak that day... kekeke.. But I managed to break the ice, didn't I?

After we entered the cinema, everything seemed to be ok. She was too busy drooling over Mr. Smith to be nervous around me. Hence, I did the usual thing that I do when I watch a movie.. curled up in the 'rocking' chair with my shawl and enjoy the movie. We were so lucky to get great seats that day with no one sitting next to us. I should say that it's because it was an early bird movie. However, Teek said that her Brad had gone out of his way to make the special arrangement for her... *rolled eyes*

The movie was a great one for sure. However, our next obstacle was lunch. Where to go for lunch.. My partner, the mute kutu, as usual did not contribute any ideas laa kan.. "I'm very adaptable", she says... Haiyoo... I was left to crack my head on where to go for lunch. Usually I'll just pass the task to whom ever I was out with.. Haa.. skali I had to do the thinking pulak. At first we.. ooppss.. I thought of going to Chili's because I remembered I promised to treat her the Chili Cheese Fries.. But the restaurant was full at that time that we.. ooppss.. I decided to go for the California Pizza Kitchen.

Once we were seated and ordered, the next obstacle begun.. to get the mute kutu to talk. I really wished that I could do the Director Ahmad Nisfu's scene in Seniman Bujang Lapuk.. where he asked P. Ramlee to say out his lines... "Cakap... Cakap.... " *lol*. The whole situation was not as bad as I tought it would be laa.. She did manage to share few stories (at last!) and we managed to trade few gossips here and there.. So, it was great! Binx, the magician managed to make Teek, the mute kutu talk... Hooray!

So Teek, I hope this won't be the last time that we get together ok... However, the next time we meet, please laa cakap banyak sikit bacause you really made me look like a blabber mouth last Saturday.. kekekeke.. Write it out in a notebook if you must ok girl... Thanks for an enjoyable day and for the yummy cookies.. *winks*

binx: offer for the mute kutu's exclusive pic is still on.. *lol*

Just a wish for you...

It was your birthday last Sunday. I have been reminding myself of the date the whole week. Actually, I didn't even have to remind myself because one look at the date and I'll straight away remember what day it was. And it was your birthday.

It has been several years since I've last wished you 'Happy Birthday'. The last time we celebrated was actually the first time I realised that something was amiss. It was the beginning of the end. And the memory of it still lingers at the back of my head until this moment. Just can't seem to erase it out of my head. Sad how things work kan.

Since, we have put the pass behind us, I was really anxious to call you up and wish you personally this year. I even toyed with the idea of buying you a gift and even a card. Was browsing through some cards the other day but I just couldn't get myself to grab one and walk to the counter to pay for it.

Why? I don't really know myself... Maybe because I feel that it won't change how things are between us. Maybe because you don't really make the effort to get close to me and instead are very attached to the new people in your life. Hence, I thought my gift would not bring any significant meaning to you compared to the ones that you'll be receiving from others. It would just be another meaningless object in your life.

Therefore, since I don't feel like calling you or texting you a birthday wish, I am just going to do it here.. virtually, with hope that you might be reading this (no no... please don't).

Happy Belated 58th Birthday, Ayah!!

Even though I've stopped saying these words to you, I hope you know that I do love you.

It's true what Abah (an uncle) said; even though you left us and moved on with your life, even though how much we hated what you did to us, even though we tried our mighty best to hate you, you are still our dad. And that's the cold hard truth. A daughter should not hate her father, because he IS her father... I didn't get Abah's message at first and even decided to close one ear every time he starts to lecture me on the topic over and over again. However, I think I've finally get the message now...

Father of Mine - Everclear

Father of mine
Tell me where have you been
You know I just closed my eyes
My whole world disappeared

Father of mine
Take me back to the day
When I was still your golden boy
Back before you went away

I remember blue skies
Walking the block
I loved it when you held me high
I loved to hear you talk

You would take me to the movie
You would take me to the beach
You would take me to a place inside
That is so hard to reach

Father of mine
Tell me where did you go
You had the world inside your hand
But you did not seem to know

binx: wonder if u remember MY bday....

It's just too good to be true

12.45 am, Monday 13th June

bwbw: montreal grand prix in 15 mins... vroom vroom....
binx: ye ke?
binx: bukan 4 am?
bwbw: nope..
bwbw: 15 mins..
bwbw: heheh tempted ye..
binx: ooook
bwbw: tgk starting cukup lah..
binx: isk baru jek landing atas katil
binx: nak tgk laa
binx: japs nak turun balik
binx:*smile*
bwbw: heheh..
bwbw: meraban esok buat kerja sebab ngantuk..
binx: dah slalu buat dah
binx: it's ok
binx: dulu ada geng i slalu stay up tgk
bwbw: kay i teman u..
binx: ok set
bwbw: schumy #3 ni... will we see a comeback?
binx: nooooo
binx: coz barrichelo blew his engine in qualifying
binx: he didnt even manage to make it for the qualifying
binx: time warm up lap dah meletup
binx: so shumey is worried bout his car too
bwbw: schumy 2nd...
bwbw: so he wont care coz he really need the points..
binx: i know
binx: takpe
binx: dah laa circuit laju
binx: yg penting abg toya 5th.. go go abg toya...
binx: *smile*
bwbw: toya dah kena warning..kena bawak elok2... nanti kena ban...'
binx: y?
bwbw: fia warning team...keep ur driver in check..
binx: go go abg butang (button)
binx: *rotflol*
bwbw: hah nak start dah..
bwbw: u rasa sapa menang? realistically?
binx: tak sure
bwbw: i have a sneaky feeling its gonna be schumy... kalau tak raikonen..
binx: coz this circuit kan famous for its accidents
bwbw: tu lah.. 5 spots speed > 300 kmh
binx: the renault osso can win
bwbw: jensen cam problem je..heheh
binx: kekekeke
bwbw: kalau gearbox dia rosak starting je alonso sure potong..
binx: yups
binx: true
binx: high possibility
bwbw: here we go!
bwbw: renault nya start very fast
binx: jap
binx: sini stil warm up
bwbw: go!
bwbw: delay sikit eh kat kl..


binx: yeahhhh
binx: wuhooooooooooooooo
binx: montoya race leader
binx: * dance routine*
binx: *cucuk bintang*
bwbw: happy ye..
bwbw: menang lah tu kalau keta dia tak rosak..
bwbw: tapi kimi dok kejar tu..
binx: tak kisah
binx: seize the moment
binx: *sengih*
binx: i dah nak call it quits dah tadi
binx: but now im wide awake
binx: *sengih* lagi
bwbw: good for u!


bwbw: dinding tu berhantu siut..
binx: tuh ah
bwbwa: alonso, now button..
binx: mmg slalu accident situ every yr
binx: button?
binx: osso out?
bwbw: oops.. lupa.. delay..
binx: tgh iklan nieh
bwbw: kay ill keep my mouth shut..
binx: alaa
binx: ckp jek
bwbw: dah tgk button crash?
binx: lap brapa sana?
binx: here 23 more to go
bwbw: 22/70
binx: oook
bwbw: 1 lap gap
binx: button out
binx: haiyoooooooooo
binx: safety car is out
binx: rugi
bwbw: kerjar laa schumy..heheh
binx: tuh ah
binx: shumy pit
binx: kimi laa pulak leading.....
bwbw: good race eh?
binx: yups
binx: interesting
binx: not a predictable one for sure


bwbw: black flag..
bwbw: for montoya..
binx: oooooooook
binx: drive thru?
bwbw: masuk pit
bwbw: missed red light
binx: huh?
binx: damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
binx: *angry*
binx: ok im going to bed now

(the race was still on lap 17/70)

2.21 am, Monday 13th June



See the full results here.




binx: uuwaaaaaaa........