In the month of September 2008..

September was fasting month and it came and went pretty quickly. Apart form the big highlight of getting our bonus pay out, it was a pretty quiet month.

Well, I had told myself that when I have extra cash, above everything else, there are 3 things I must do. One, have my eyes tested and invest in a good pair of glasses that I SO need. Two, take Carol, Aunty Connie and the gang out for dinner. And, three get Carol a new handphone for Christmas cum her birthday.

No.1, was easy enough.. I reckon it's a good investment 'coz ometimes my eyes get so tired from staring at the PC and I don't really have a decent pair of glasses to wear out of the house! Managed to find a nice pair of frames that I liked.. nice and simple with no excessive bit of metal (especially tacky gold bits or screaming brands!) at the side. The optimetrist actually had some pretty good news for me - I don't need multi-focal lenses just yet! It's a good, comfortable fit and it wasn't over, over budget - I'm very pleased!

My new glasses.. And, that's how I look in them..

No. 2 was a bit tricky 'coz of timing. At first Aunty Connie was away in Penang, then Carol, James & Jade were gonna go to Vietnam.. I've already decided on Delicioud at 1-Utama and I'm sure there'll be a post on our dinner in the near.

No. 3 was made so much easier for me thanks to Luke, who clued me in on what type of phone Carol liked. I ended up getting her a pretty nifty Nokia that had all these feature s(that Carol may not even use, like Yahoo Messenger!) that even my phone didn't have. Carol was pretty pleased and intimidated by the phone all at once. Pleased 'coz, hey.. free new phone.. hello, what's there not to be pleased about?? Intimidated 'coz she's a bit of a techno-phobe and she's been using a basic phone for so long all the new functions & features will need some time figuring out.. I'm sure she'll be fine and enjoying her new phone in no time!
The phone I got for Carol.. yes, it's a pink one! Next, to get her a matching phone pouch.

I've been on the phone with Mona from time to time and true to her word, I got pictures. Mona, Ben and the girls are all fine and Asha has begun to look like Mona. According to Mona, she's a happy baby who hardly ever cries and.. sleeps thru' the night! Sweet!

Happy baby Asha.. The girls.. Maya, Asha & Dhania..

The family Davies..

Tisha

It was a Friday (19 Sept '08) morning. I had already called in to say I'd be late for work (emergency of sorts at home) and was dashing out to the apartment's management office. I heard a "meow" and thought it was my li'l Boo but... no, there was a kitty at my doorstep!

She was very "sociable" and not the least bit afraid of me. In fact, she looked quite happy to see me but.. I was in a hurry - sorry kitty!

She was still there when I got back about 10 minutes later and since I was to wait for the guy from the management office to call, I had a little time to spare. So, I got kitty some food and water. Beyond the door, my own little kitties could sense her presence and didn't look too pleased. The call came in, the guy wasn't going come over to check out (the crack in) my bathroom ceiling and I had to dash off to work.

By the time I came back from work that night, kitty was gone... Kitty had gone to my neighbour's place upstairs. Kitty obviously enjoys human company and sought it out. Kitty also had a very bad wound on her back. My neighbours daughter had really wanted to keep poor kitty but her daddy wouldn't hear of it. So...., yes, I eventually took kitty in officially on 21 September 2008.. Yeah.., I know - SUCKER!


Kitty in her assigned basket.. and that's the really bad wound on her back..

Kitty is a curious one and didn't remain in her basket for long and was off to check-out her new environment. My Girl was sleeping on my bed at the time and was awakened by the unfamiliar "meows" of the new kitty.. and the expression on Girl's face when she discovered the new kitty was PRICELESS! See for yourself!

I don't know that cat.. who the heck are you??!!

Hey, new kitty.. Whoever you are, I'll be watching you..

None of my li'l darlings took to the new kitty at first but that was only natural.. just need a bit of time.. Of course, I had to name her and settled for Tisha 'coz she was a sort of tortoiseshell (coat of a mish-mash of a few colours) type.

Boo was the first to become pally with Tisha and they now get along so well. Mechi is friendly but not too chummy and Girl's just cordial.


But they all definitely get along during meal time!

Tisha's settled in nicely, her wound has improved, she's gained a bit of weight and looking a whole lot "prettier" but she was pretty cat to begin with anyway..

20 September 2008 - A Saturday morning at Segi College..

My colleague, Daniel, who also lectures part-time at Segi College in Subang, had invited me once again (I did this once before last year) to help evaluate his creative design students' work.

I must say, Daniel usually puts together a pretty package (usually includes a meal or two and chauffers me to and for!) to make it OK for you to get up early on a Saturday morning. Plus, Daniel is such a nice guy... picky (as hell!) eater but nice guy still, that it's hard to say no..

The college exterior.. And, the lobby..

Tucked in a corner was this.. vehicle(?), which I reckon must a students' project.. Looks pretty cool..

The college has 2 cafeterias.. This one's the "high end" one. I had lunch here the last time.. roast chicken it was.. and it was pretty good! Sadly, it was closed (no classes on that day). So...

.. we ended up in the "budget" one instead.

Daniel briefed us on our task at hand over breakfast..

Daniel, in mid-brief.. my colleague, Ash, another assessor, acting shocked over the score sheet and Daniel's colleague from the college.. GOSH! I can't remember her name! listening to Daniel intently.

We only had 2 student to assess, which was a breeze (the last time there we like 8 and I was fed 3 meals!)

Ash with the 2 students after the assesment, which took less than an hour.. Then, Danieal took us on a short tour of the premises..

Wall art by some of the students..

After the short tour, we were good to go (home)

Work - Day Trip to Penang on 17 September 2008

Headed off in the morning to Penang, well Seberang Perai (mainland) to be precise, to visit our satellite outlet there.

Apart from visiting the outlet, my colleagues, Shahril, Jasmin & I were also supposed to visit the Seberang Perai City Shopping Centre and the Sunway Carnival Mall, where we had planned to conduct some promotional activities. Unfortunately, we had overlooked the fact that it was a state holiday.. so, we didn't managed to meet the people at Sunway Carnival.

The Seberang Perai City Shopping Centre is a brand new and very nice mall. There were lots and lots of nice (shoes!) shops, which we didn't have time to visit, of course! Well..., after all, this is a work trip and naturally work comes first, no? Even tho' we didn't have anyone to meet at Sunway Carnival, we still headed on to the mall to have a look-see. After that, we were done! Yay!

Since it was only 3-ish, we still had a good couple of hours to kill before we had to be at the airport. So, since Jasmin was not fasting, we went and took away some nasi kandar and headed back to Sharil's room to eat and freshen up.


Shahril's room at Sunway Seberang Jaya Hotel..

And, here's Sharil (trying to look "natural"!)

Nasi kandar & teh ais was from this shop called Kassim Mustafa, which was just across the road from the Sunway Canival Mall. And, man..., the nasi kandar was.. OH! SOOOO GOOD! No, it wasn't because I was hungry - it really rocked!

I had chicken kurma and this mushy spinach watchmacallit that was to die for!! It was SO, SO tasty! I wasn't sure how Jasmin would take to mushy spinach.. so, I played it safe and got her fried chicken (yum!) and fried cabbage.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport. Shahril was kind enough to send us and we left at 5-ish so we could get to the airport on time for Shahril to break fast. Despite quite heavy traffic on the Penang Bridge, we made it to the airport in good time. We managed to accompany Shahril as he broke fast (we were still pretty stuffed from th earlier nasi kandar!) and then, it was time to go..

Breaking fast with Astana - 10 September 2008

Our advertising agency, Astana, hosted a breaking fast dinner for all their clients at The Palace of the Golden Horses hotel. I had forgotten to bring my camera and all the pix on this post is atually courtesy of my colleague, Ash.

It was quite a lavish affair.. with door gifts, a good spread of food and they had even chartered a boat with entertainment on board for the guests to have a short cruise on the lake!
Place of the Golden Horses hotel entrance..

Catching up with Nan but, course, we'll always make time to smile for the camera!

Food and... the latest gossip?? Hah, that's me tucking into the yummy roast beef!

The buffet spead consisted mostly of authentic Malay kampung food.. Nice!

Ash, looking very happy, having a good go at the fireworks..

Beacuse the chareterd boat could only take a certain number of people at any one time, we had to wait quite a bit to get on. Sadly, Rafidah, who was giving me a ride had to head home and so we left.. Ash and Hafeez, who stayed on, managed to get on the boat and they said it was really good fun!

Let's tak a group pix.. why not 2! OK, here's a run down of who's who..

Pix on the right, seated (l to r) are Rozmah, our Head of Gift Shop, Gulnaz, our ex-Director of Marketing, Rafidah, our Head of Special Projects

Standing(l to r) Me, Hafeez, our CEO's PA, Munir, our Account Director from Astana, Ash, Lerning Supervisor from our Centre of Learning, Jasmin, our PR Executive and Indra, Special Projects Supervisor

On the boat.. view from the boat..