PBS Madness

Here we are, Penggal 3 again. Just completed P.Am PBS in May. This time around I had 68 kids to tend to. A little better than last year, but it was a complicated year as the quetions were hard.
I slept with files, marked the like crap in the car while kids went for mengaji & tuition & ponteng you-can-guess-what to finish marking on time. And luckily this time around, we managed to finish viva early so the students could do corrections.

Marks are better...but i ended up with a few days of migraine & dark eye bags for weeks. Plus we had to have take out, which was very unhealthy.

I envy friends from other schools that only need to handle 20-25 students. \

And I shrudder at the thought of next year's round coming up.

AAAaaarrRRRrrrgGGGgghHHHH!!!!

THE NEW HIJAB CRAZE IS HERE :)

 

Sweet Love (Bangi Cut)





Its here again. That crazy moment when I start buying whatever trashy thing just because everyone else is doing the same too.
A couple of years ago, I managed to dig a deep hole because of my fondness for bawal with crystals. There were many patterns like KLCC, Spa-Q and the all famous RM200+ Tudung Angkasawan. Those damded things blew a big hole through my pocket, enough to make me still hold on to them even though 7 years have passed (it is said that bawal will make a comeback and I am still waiting).

Well, now we have Fareeda. A very yummy colourful, fun, frilly and comfortable slip on hijab make of crepe. There are of course many types under the brand, but the 3 layer crepe has landed a place in my heart.

It is more chic' to wear short ones, but I have discovered that wearing anything below 11 inches a bit memalukan. It just hangs on top of your chest, the long ones that don't are sort of baggy but I DO NOT CARE.

3 layer crepes come in many cute designs like Sweet Love, Maple, Leopard, Ribbons, Polka Dots (which I detest, but bought for the sake of trend) and many more. It also comes in 2 cuttings, Bangi with is shorter and has a sharper cut. And Utara which is longer with a rounder cut...but larger and softer curls. Utara is my fave, though I makes chills through my bones when I hear people say its sexy. Hijab are not supposed to be sexy dears.

When I 1st saw a friend wear it, it didn't really make me want to rush in and buy one. For the sake of trend, eventually I did look for a cheap replica which was many times the price of what I usually spend on a scarf. It was very uncomfortable. Hot, scratchy and ill-fitting. Awning didn't feel right. Made me feel miserable. But everyone else kept wearing it. And until everyone started wearing it did I think I needed to try it.

There are no Fareeda boutiques in Sabah. There is only 1 reseller that I know, Zuhrah at 1 Borneo KK's basement and that also I only discovered last June. Back in Sandakan, there is 1 boutique that sells comfortable 3 layer chiffon scarves of a different design under another brand, De' Noorish Elegance. The KK boutique was mahal. They jackeh up the prices between RM50-100 but still well worth it if it means I don't have to pay for a KL flight ticket!

Bubbles (Utara Cut)

 

I bought my 1st scarf last June. RM199 was a steal I thought as I remembered my friends telling me that resellers sell it on the internet for RM300 onwards. 2nd hand scarfs called pre-loves cost at least RM150 but sometimes are dirty , smelly, torn or the stones on the brooches have fallen off. Scary thought. Plenty of rip off cases too, which I had some unfortunate experience with afterwards.

 

That month I noticed the scarves were cheaper. No, they are not cheap. But MUCH cheaper than usual. A new scarf could fetch a price as low as RM120.... a brand new one. The utara cuttings are as cheap as RM150, except the popular ones like Polka Kings and stuff.

 

Went on a binge. A nasty one. So, here it goes.....



 

 

This is my latest shame. The shocking part is I collected all this in just 1 1/2 moths between

 

June and August ( I stopped during Ramadhan). Crap it was an exhilarating experience waiting for the Pos Laju van ;)  I had managed to stay away from shopping craze for a long time...so it was sort of fun when it get going again. Met some cheaters on the way however. Paid for one thing, got another because the original one got ripped. Had to top up some more, then I got a scarf which had its curls tampered with so that it would pass off as a 12 inch but UGLY scarf. I also bought one that had no Fareeda tag at the back with rough-ish fabric. Hmmm....

 

I was going to quit cold turkey last week until a friend bought in an unwanted scarf (because it didn't match her baju) at RM20 off....and I bought it anyway. Truth is... I also don't have a baju to match that but it looks good in the dresser. LOL. Eye therapy. OK, I won't buy anymore.... (fingers crossed). Hahahah......

  

GET A LIFE. Or fill a transfer form.

I'm not perfect. And I probably will never be.
But one of my good traits is the fact that no matter how much I disagree with a person, I totally do try my best to get along an civically possible.
I may talk trash on my blog, but at a certain level, I still know how to behave myself, especially with older people. Its a Malay thing. No matter how unsatisfied you are with an elder, we at least act submissive in front of them. This is call 'adab' or curtousey.  Weather a person is ikhlas or not is between him and God. That's just the way it is.

I've had my fair share of problems with my bosses. Sometimes I admit I get mad when they don't listen to reason and lash out with criticism but at the end of the day, I do accept that a ship can only have one captain. And you must listen to that captain in order to keep your ship afloat. After many a moon, when we understand each other, sailing becomes smoother. I do what she tells me, I get what I ask for. Support for my work, for my students. After a couple of years, this school which I once so hated has really grown on me. I actually like it here.

And I'd be damded if someone tried to mess it up.

A new staff came in a couple of years ago. My students called him a pondan for being so soft and sotong-ish. But his tongue is razor sharp. Before a year was up, he had made enemies with many of the other teachers. Worst off, he had foolishly shared on the social media his thoughts...and the whole world saw it. Yeah... actually, somebody showed boss. That scared the crap out of everyone to block that someone, just incase we had a slip...hahahah.

He got called in and lectured. Really...it was unprofessional of him. But being from Malaya, I tried to sympathize with his predicament...being far away from family and probably not having much of a life in Sandakan may have given him extreme stress. Sympathy. No matter how provocative or nasty he posted, no matter how much everyone was talking behind of him, I just shrugged it off. Afterall, everyone has problems. Everyone has their poison.

Lately, I noticed him going after my 6th Formers. He doesn't teach Form 6 but despite even me not knowing them well and not daring to add them on Twitter and FB....he did. And he made an issue with some of them with very racial statements. Still, he's a collegue. Different people have different ways of handling stress. It was his thing, besides, he did it to everyone.

WAR OF THE BOSSES.

Then one fine day, disaster struck. Be it sabotage or a pure misunderstanding...we may never know because nobody can be sure of ones intentions be it good or bad. There was a clash of the bosses. My boss Vs. my superior. It was getting pretty ugly, and later on I discovered that it was tied to an earlier problem.

Boss told me. She called me in, and I believe she just wanted me to help get things back in order with my Superior because he wouldn't return her calls. She was really stressed out. She had told me even the stuff I shouldn't have heard. As I shrank into the chair hearing her story, I heard the staff outside the office become so quiet. You could hear a freaking needle hit the floor.

Tried to be neutral. Truth is, I truly didn't know what to say. All I could do was listen. I offered to help with the mess surrounding Superior, but I have no idea what to say about the rest. Its not my place to say anything. I'm just a lowly staff working to find a meal for my family.

As she has mentioned some of my friends...after the conversation, afraid that they'd get the wrong message, I rushed to see Superior to explain what happened and pleaded with him to let it go and make peace. No more gaduh2. He was luckily, very understanding and wasn't too mad.

I also went to my friends & asked them to quickly remove the offensive posts boss had seen... then one pal asked WHY boss told me all of this, implying me of brown-nosing. Great. Just great. Think what you want honey, was just trying to save your ass.

Then , those pals, and the dude I referred to earlier was lectured by boss coz a spy had apparently readily printed out their
posts before they had removed them. Nasty.

Then, after a strange turn of events... I saw the dude lament about how some "friends" should be not trusted and should be removed. Didn't think much about it because I know my conscience was clear.

Until I noticed that I had been blocked....and it all came to me and made sense. He was implying that I was bosses spy.

Wow.... that's so flattering actually to think that I could probably be on buddy terms with the boss. That I could possibly go lepak with her after work for teh tarik and fill her in with details of what people are saying behind her back. That was a big wow.

Nevermind that.

But after knowing him for the past 3 years...I could only imagine what his posts are about me. I cant read them, but everyone else can.

I admit that many people are not friendly with me because I am not the social type. I don't sit for long at the canteen and I stay out of most weekend social events because I value my family more. People are sick of seeing each others faces 8 hours a day, 5 times a week. Why torture them?

But I couldn't bear to imagine what nonsense this dude was going to write about me. If he could be rude to a senior teacher infront of his face, imagine the possibilities this person could do to me. What my friends would read. What my students would read. So, I promptly blocked him. I cut myself off.

He wanted to make me an enemy. So obviously , he will get one.

He literally did keep out of my way for weeks, but my may be paranoid self started getting dirty, sly looks from some of my friends. It was horrible. What I was worried about earlier, may have come true.

Today, he came into my staff room to drop off documents on my friends desk. He looked straight on with his divalistic strut and  showed a face which my dear ol' mum usually refers to as 'Muka tak bawak untung'.

Usually, muslims give salam before entering anothers domain, but this dude just crashed in like a buffalo. Sweet.

I know many non-muslims who know better manners than you, cow. Tis' shameful really.

I have no idea why I'm writing this.

No, I'm doing this to get my story out to anyone who will listen.

I'm a quiet person. I only speak what is necessary to say. I believe that speaking too much may lead me to say stuff that shouldn't be said, because I'm human and I know my weakness.

I come to work because I enjoy teaching and all I want to do is make a living and raise my family. Not to become a politician or a Melodi reporter. DUDE, get a life will ya?!

Because there is a very clear line that defines an outspoken and opinionated individual and a rude pig.

Sandakan is my home now. So if you hate this place and its people so much...you should fill in a transfer form.

Cheerio, sucker.
 

Accidents Do Happen...Right?

There is a kid, around my daughters age who died yesterday after 3 days of coma. He was hit by a reversing MyVi driven by an unlicenced 16 year old. The kid (from SMK Sandakan 2) was reportedly on the right side of the road when this idiot brain damaged no good ran over him. It wouldn't be shocking if it was a head on collision, because I know some of the kids do cross the roads like chicken. But this kid kena from the back, by a reversing car... he probably didn't even see it coming.

My heart breaks for this kids parents. Your kids waiting for the bus. He's a good boy. He was coming home from school. And he got run over by another kid who apparently comes from a dysfunctional family. I'm sure the drivers parents will say "accidents do happen, what if it was YOUR kid behind the wheel" which, yeah ... its a good point cause hey, no one runs people down like road kill on purpose, right? - But I cant help but feel a little more sympathy for the kid who lost his life.

It all boils down to the fact that we, rich city dwellers who are always looked upon as being educated compared to stereotyped kampung people aren't always smarter. A kampung dude may have limited opportunity to study, work or get a well paid city job... but they dont raise their kids to do stupid stuff like these fools did.

How can you let YOUR CHILD drive around on a f&^%ing joyride and feel its NOT your fault?

Cometra Travel 2013

I just got the letter from the pemaju.My small crappy 500 something sq feet apartment is ready to move into, but I just finished 1 week of CNY holidays. Can't settle it on a Friday as I need at LEAST 2 days to sign documents, sign up the SESB meter,pasang grill and so forth.

Kena tunggu cuti lar kalau mcm ni. Too bad for Cometra if their Surat Tribunal comes 1st... They called for me to fetch my check.

Hah.... terskip cerita dah. During 2012 hols, I used my tiket kerajaan to go back to mum's place. Then this dumb travelling agent didnt inform me that my flight was made earlier (as opposed to being delayed, which is the usual, potentially harmless norm around here).

I lost my flight and I had to fork out extra for a business class seat (as there were no more economy seats)and denda of RM100 per head. Sial kan....

And MAS wouldnt take responsibility,& Cometra the agent pun blames MAS. MAS had the brains to email explanation, but the bitch in Cometra had the guts to dare me to complain to Trbunal Pengguna.... which is what I did the following month.

Oh,by the way... the trip toTribunal Pengguna is well a worthy one. For Pete's sake everyone should go coz you have no IDEA how many times people swindle you out of good money, and we Malays tend to just 'redha' only. Dude... trust me. There are some things that you can redha & some things that you just shouldnt, ok?

As a curteous act, I went to Comtra before filing the Tribunal Pengguna complaint. This was in KK and I had to go back to Sandakan that evening. I visited them at 8 am and gave them until 11 am to consider (we had to wait at the waiting area until my hubby left, baru dorang berani panggil tanya whats the matter). Then the officer siap lagi kata its me as the pelanggan's fault I terlepas flight coz Cometra handles thousands of flights and is bound to miss 1 person. Little did she know that my office mate pun kena the same thing with Cometra a few days earlier than me and was reimbursed by MAS. And even that hadnt deterred them from making the same mistake twice. For goodness sake, what am I? 5 years old...? Woman, I know what an agent is supposed to do and dont give the "we handle thousands of customers" excuse shit coz Im sure MAS handles much more than you, minus the crappy mistakes your agency makes!

Well, only after I submitted the Tribunal claim and got back to Sandakan did those hoes finally get back to me. They wont bank in or mail me the check.I have to take leave and fetch the check from KK. Shit. They simply cannot stop making me susah.
-I missed 2 days of work and kena show cause letter from my school.
-I kena bayar RM900+ to reissue my useless tiket
-I kena travel all the way from Sdkn to KK to see them becoz the bloody receptionist would let me speak to the Cometra boss.
-I had to lodge a complaint to Tribunal
-I had to pay for lodgings in KK
-Now I have to patah balik to KK to sign for the bloody check??

NO. Tunggu la the next cuti. Who ask you to work like a dead beat. If the Tribunal letter comes 1st, save me duit hotel already, and my neck from that stupid Sandakan -KK road.

So, tunggu cuti or see you in court!!!

xoxoxo

Update : a month later, the Tribunal letter reached them. They insisted I come to KK at once & get the check, and I cooly told them Tribunal is doing me favour by doing the trial in Sandakan. Saves me the trip, besides, I wont waste anymore leaves on them for their useless service.
They mailed the check. All the protocol crap was shitty and designed to make peoples lives complicated. Lol.
So, I tarik balik tuntutan , but only after he cheque cleared (Ms. Emily kept pestering me to do so before the cheque even sampai to my hands, but the Tribunal officer told me not to). So they were spared 48 hours before the trial.

Hence, Tribunal Pengguna is really important. Really, really important. Something we all need to be aware of. Good job Tribunal Pengguna! :)

My Lovely Neighbors

Lovely as in the rule "love thy neighbor" lol.

I moved into my own little cave in 2008 (buying it the previous year). I had been renting for roughly 8 years before finally finding a place I thought would be suitable and affordable. Its small, but I can walk to banks, supermarket , Watsons and a nifty 24hour KFC (that ones a bonus ;) ) Its a few minutes away from my school and the hospital where hubby used to work. On emergencies, my daughter will be able to walk home from school.

The neighborhood is a typical Sandakan neighborhood, a bit dirty as we are so near the supermarket and all these PATIs prefer throwing sampah in the drain rather than in a garbage bin. One neighbor on our right used to bring his trampy girlfriend home after school when his folks were out working and became a bit defensive when I tegur him. Luckily the entire family moved out before I managed to invite his mum over for tea for some chit chat (the son of a bitch threw garbage, puntung rokok and chewing gum into my house to show his semangat kejiranan). What sort of irks me is the fact that the family was ... gosh...Muslim Malays. I sure as hell hope they are Muslim. It would be ashame to wear such pretty hijabs and jubah but not be practicing...kan?

The left neighbor is a darling. Mary,Sino-Kadazan housewife and her husband who owns a small business. They have 4 wonderful kids, and this time I'm not being sarcastic !! The kids help around the house, especially on weekends and are super respectful to neighbors. So soft spoken and they study hard in school, even the son... Surprisingly, during Raya, they are the ones that will come over. The Malay neighbors are way to busy for that sort of thing, and apparently... I am not of their class for them to bother about me.

Another colourful personality on my street is this quiet lady who lives with 3 dogs in a house all cemented up. She takes her dogs out every evening at around 5 pm ao that they can relieve themselves...on a spot of grass next to my driveway which I had planned to plant some stuff. Sneaky lil' ol lady used to see if no one is watching, but if I am out gardening she stays away pulak. Well, my husband had that poor patch of grass cemented soon enough after that, and I never had to go on 5pm sentry duty after that.

The most stand out characters come from a family that resides about 4 houses away from ours. We call them orang kampung. Why.... because I believe an entire kampung lives in that small 3 room house. They just moved in less than 2 years ago. There are rows and rows of laundry on the front porch everyday and their kids play in the middle of the street even after 9pm. There are a couple of motorcyles that love to tarik minyak infront of my house around the same time my kids are about to sleep, and the village dangdut queen lives there too. Have you ever heard a dangdut song? The singer usually buat suara as manja as possible, but its tolerable when her voice is OK. So, thats the problem with the dangdut queen. Her voice is KO but she sings it on high volume AS IF we find her singing very entertaining.

I havent spoken to them before...they are the most seclusive family on the block, except for the many kids that live there. (OMG... do u think theres any adults?) Mary lost 2 handphones a couple of weeks ago. She was in the kitchen and had left the gate and door open (FYI, thats a normal thing here). Me, being from KL and having a fair share of nasty experinces with crooks in Puchong (also, thanks to my tad bit over-cautious hubby) always lock our grills at least. The only thing Ive noticed gone missing from our house is a couple of new flipflops we put outside the door. The thief didint take our old sandals or shoes luckily, but I started putting my HushPuppy pumps and the kids school shoes inside lately, just incase.

Mary mentioned that the other neighbors had been experiencing similar problems. Things go missing, and it happens in dogless houses. One neighbor had made accusations towards a little boy that lives in the "orang kampung' house. The kid is only 12 and is rumoured to have theft problems in his school. As annoyed as I was with that family, my heart sort of stopped a bit because Nadia is 12 too.

Rather than start a confrontation, I told them it wasn't a good idea to jump at conclusions due to a hunch. We need proof, preferbably a witness. So, the ladies have agreed to start locking their grills (I told them about the crazy KL thugs that selamba masuk rumah org time tgok tv, and they got the messege). Our safety and our property safety should be our own responsibility. Bukan belasah budak darjah 6, yg tak tentu lagi betul dia buat ke tidak....

Overall, this is still an OK place. I do have good friendly neighbors, and very greatful for it too.

Blurrness 2012

Holy cripes.
Hehe... I made a resolution to blog often (esp in the pengajian am one) and didnt get to keep it. (sigh)
OYB was on maternity leave...and the boss must have thought it would be funny if I sat in for her, since I was the one that was SO bising last year.

Horrified at first, but I learned loads of good stuff. And maybe, somehow I've learned to appreciate the magnitude of her 'busy-ness'. The job was a handful and I was SO glad when she got back.

Haha.... I forgot to get my picture being taken when I was still 'bersarang' in her room. Damn .....