Happy Birthday, Girls!!

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When Tasya was one year old, we threw a big birthday bash for her.
She was surrounded with lots of toys, gifts from family members and friends.
But she told me that she wanted a baby as a present.
I didn't know exactly what she meant, but as if she is destined to have all her prayers answered, Dilla was born spot on Tasya's 2nd. birthday!!!

Since then, Dilla has been Tasya's sparring partner, in good and bad times, celebrating the same day each year for the past 23 years.

Happy Birthday, my 25th May girls!!
How about a double wedding too?!??...

I could almost hear them both screaming: Oooohh NO!!!!, mama, please NO!!!!!!!.......

The Sad Sonata.

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Lately I have been crying so much until I've developed sags under both my eyes!

Yesterday, my beautician called to remind me that my monthly facial treatment is due.
I agreed to a 4.30pm appointment thinking that I could spend time on the bench after picking up Ikram from school.
However at 4.15pm, I called Ally to cancel my appointment.

mama: Ally, we won't be finished until 6pm, right?
Ally: Ya, treatment should be over latest by 7pm.
mama: Sorry Ally, I'll have to reschedule the appointment! I have to be home at 6pm to watch The Sad Sonata!

That's the cause of my weeping so much.......

The Sad Sonata is currently shown on RTM2 at 6.00pm-7.00pm daily From Monday to Thursday.
It's such a sad story about love that is denied through cruel twists of fate.
The serial has put my activity for the day at a standstill for an hour each evening.

Imran: Ya Allah mama!!!! Sedih sangat ker???? (after he saw half a box of drenched tissue paper on my bedroom table).

I'm not qualified and do not want to write reviews on dramas, but Korean dramas manage to consume me thus far!
We first started watching 'The Winter Sonata' a few years ago.
When papa came back from office in the evening, he found Tasya and Dilla sprawled at the family hall wailing profusely.
As he entered the bedroom, I was wiping my face with a face towel (as tissue papers would not be sufficient to dry away the tears!!!)

Papa: Weh, is there a funeral here????
You girls are sooo silly!!!

Later on I cried each evening watching 'Autumn in My Heart'.
and 'Love Story in Harvard',
and 'Stairways to Heaven'.........

They are well made dramas depicting the Korean culture, bersopan santun, full of respect for the elders, work ethics, value of frienships, and able to make us cry buckets.....

Our film makers should emulate them.
Instead of showing Harith Iskandar running around the house in his underwear showing his 'lanjut' thingy, with Ida Nerina berkemban ditengah2 rumah ditengah2 hari....,
The film maker told us to swallow the fact that it IS being Malaysian,
nak bertengkar2 lagi dengan whoever dare say otherwise (after all they have won an international award)*..

Ooooppss.....I've said earlier that I am not a qualified movie reviewer!!!!!

*No prizes for guessing which movie!!!....




The Sad Sonata
*Reviewed by jicy

Oh, the sweet bitterness of first love. This of course is a common recurring theme in most Korean dramas. Sad Love Song, just as the drama name suggests, delivers a tragic storyline about three characters; through their passion to launch careers in the music industry, their lives are intertwined by fate within the intricate nature of love and friendship.

Three-handed concerto
As a boy growing up, Seo Jun-young (Kwon Sang-woo) hates his social status of being the prostitute's son. He is ashamed of being raised by his single mother (Na Young-hee), who owns a pub at the American army's base area. Humiliated with the endless teasing, insults and bullying at school, Jun-young is frequently involved in fights with his peers. All until he meets Park Hye-in, who showers him with love and diverts his attention to develop his musical talent of becoming a promising composer.
Park Hye-in (Kim Hee-sun) is Seo Jun-young's childhood sweetheart. A tragic infancy resulted Hye-in losing her parents, and then she suffered the loss of her eyesight during a severe illness. Seo Jun-young, as her classmate, first started to help out Hye-in by the request of their teacher. However, within time, Hye-in and Jun-young build a strong bond of friendship that blossoms into everlasting love. Hye-in was raised by her aunt, Audrey (Jin Hee-kyung), who works at the pub owned by Jun-young's mother. She inherited her mother's beautiful voice and enjoys playing the piano with hopes of becoming a renowned singer.
Seo Jun-young's best friend is Lee Gun-woo (Yeon Jung-hoon). They met in the occasion of a bizarre misunderstanding which led to a violent fight between the boys. After Lee Gun-woo and Seo Jun-young beat the crap out of each other, both of them eventually formed a special bond and developed a close friendship during high school. Lee Gun-woo is the heir of his father's successful telecommunications business company in South Korea. The loss of his mother during childhood has impacted Gun-woo's life, which causes him to distrust love. He is a bit rebellious towards his father's requests, as he has an ambitious dream of starting his own music production company.

Fateful tragedy
Seo Jun-young is a tragic character in this drama. His only love, Park Hye-in, continues to be separated from him, while he suffers through a series of misfortunate events without her. He gets a new identity as Choi Jun-kyu, while he lives with his father (Lee Young-ha) in Seoul, for high school registration purposes. During some of the lowest point in his teenage life, his friendship with Lee Gun-woo and Jang Jin-pyo (Mc Mong) alleviate some of his distress.
When Park Hye-in's aunt, Audrey, decides to marry her American boyfriend and seek a new life in New York, Hye-in unwillingly leaves Jun-young to be with her aunt. Life in America turns out to be a complete nightmare. Audrey's abusive husband leaves Hye-in and Audrey to seek another refuge, whilst Audrey looks aimlessly for means of employment to finance their trip back to South Korea.
Coincidently, Lee Gun-woo comes to New York to further his studies at Princeton. Fate brings Park Hye-in to meet Lee Gun-woo at Central Park; it is love at first sight for Gun-woo. He instantly becomes a saviour to Audrey's problems. He helps Hye-in to land singing gigs at a jazz club, finances Hye-in's eye surgery and loves Hye-in with all his heart. He even assists Jun-young to visit New York, in hopes of helping Jun-young find his girlfriend. The attempt fails through a drug trafficking mix-up and Jun-young, destined to be apart from Hye-in, is sent back to South Korea immediately.
Hye-in's life falls apart when she loses touch with Jun-young and receives a false informed letter about Jun-young's death. Lee Gun-woo stands by her through her depressed days, suicide attempts, and Hye-in still passionately lingers onto her first love, Jun-young, who lives in her heart. In the meantime, Gun-woo actively pursues Hye-in, and proposes to her.
Upon the completion of his studies, Lee Gun-woo returns to South Korea with Park Hye-in, and Gun-woo proudly brings Hye-in to visit his best friend, Seo Jun-young (whom he knew as Choi Jun-Kyu from high school). At the first sight of Park Hye-in and Lee Gun-woo together, Seo Jun-young's heart sinks to rock bottom. The turmoil follow suit for all three characters, at the crossroads of choosing love or friendship, depicts one of the saddest melodramas..
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The Brainless Napoleon.

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In 1996, a banker friend needed money to start a business and decided to sell his 3 storey bungalow in Kg.Tunku to me.

I thought why not, sold some shares in the stock market, and the house became another compliment of the KLSE .

I heard later that my friend did not do well in his business, lost the money and lost his house...
Since my family did not want to stay in Kg.Tunku, I rented the property out to a Singaporean businessman who turned the place into his headquarters.

We'd think that I should now happily collect my monthly rental and spend them all on my children.
However, as a property owner, I have to pay the municipality a 'cukai pintu' (door tax??) twice a year, and a 'cukai tanah' once a year. Not to forget 28% of the collected rental goes to inland revenue as business income tax.

It's the time of the year to pay the 'cukai tanah' again, before 31May each year, or else, a 5%penalty will be imposed.

For the said house in Kg.Tunku, the cukai tanah has always been RM137.00 per year.
It has been so since 1996!!
This year I received a hefty bill of RM16,400.00!!!!
Wey, gilo ko, tak roti kiro??

I sent Ariff my office boy to inquire at the land office in Shah Alam.
The clerk there told him that she'll investigate and will let him know the outcome after 6 days.
After 7 days, Ariff made the call.

Ariff: Puan, saya dah call pejabat tanah, diorang kata memang cukai ni RM16,400.00 sebab tanah tu luas!
Kalau Puan tak puas hati, diorang minta Puan call this phone number and talk to Mary.

I looked at the bill and realised that some smart worker at the pejabat tanah has keyed in the keluasan tanah as 81,600meter persegi, translated to be a hefty 14.5 acres.
I checked the previous bill and it was only 0.12acres!!

If I were to own 14.5acres of prime land in SS1, I could build 120 units of 3storey bungalow lots there. I will not name the place Kg.Tunku, but MamaIrma Mansions instead!!!

Realising the source of the mistake, I promptly called the number given by Ariff
mama: hello. boleh saya bercakap dengan Mary?
answerer: Mary bukan di talian ni, sila dial 03-********

after dialing the new given number,
Hello, boleh saya bercakap dengan Mary?

answerer: Ini bukan number Mary, dial 03-****** (the first number in the first place!)
mama: eh, tadi saya dial number tu tapi girl tu kata dial number ni!
answerer: siapa yang pandai2 bagi nombor ni? awak ada nama dia????
mama: Takpe lah, saya perlu bercakap dengan Mary sebab ada kesilapan pada bil cukai tanah saya.
answerer: Mary dah tak buat billing lagi, dia sekarang dah bertukar ke bahagian pendaftaran. Puan sekarang kena call Amy di nombor 03-*******.
mama: OK. terima kasih.

I dialled the said Amy.
answerer: sori, Puan Amy busy, telepon balik selepas 10 minit.

after 10 minutes,
answerer: sori, Puan Amy keluar minum....

Ini yang darah aku menyirap ni!!
Nanti hujung tahun masa budget, diorang lah yang paling sebok minta kenaikan gaji, bonus segala, tapi prestasi kerja macam bawak kereta lembu!!!

mama: Tapi saya perlu cakap dengan seseorang yang boleh selesaikan masalah bil cukai tanah saya ni!

I heard the girl called out to someone named Jo.
After explaining the mistakes to Jo, he said I'll have to talk to Ani!!!
I RE explained to Ani, trying all the time to be extra polite hopefully my problem could be solved.

mama: you see, Ani, rumah akak ni cuma sebijik bungalow di KgTunku, takkan lah luasnya sampai 14 ekar. Kalau gitu termasuklah kawasan perkuburan Islam, jerat Cina dan Sek. Keb. Kg.Tunku!!! Lagi pun cuba you tengok rekod bil akak sebelum ni. kan dah bertahun2 bayar RM137.00 saja, kenapa tiba2 jadi RM16,400 pulak tahun ni???

Ani: Ini akak kena pergi pejabat tanah di Shah Alam, ground floor, counter 16, bawak sales and purchase agreement dan geran tanah yang menunjukkan bukti tanah tu cuma 0.12 acres!

mama: Bukan ke you all tu Pejabat Tanah, takkan tak boleh tengok rekod yang you all ada, dah siap nombor HSD, no.Lot, no. akaun...lagi pun geran tu kan ker you all yang keluarkan?

Ani: sori kak, akak kena betulkan rekod dulu! Jangan lupa settlekan sebelum 31May, kalau tak akak kena denda!

#%^#...(pundek hang lah!!!), korang yang taip macam tak pakai jari, lepas tu tak nak gunakan otak untuk nak perbetulkan kesilapan,
kitorang taxpayer yang susah!!...
Apa jadi dengan pesanan Pak Lah supaya pegawai kerajaan jangan jadi macam the little Napoleon?
Ntah2 diorang tak paham pun apo ko bondo eh litel napoleon tuh!
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The Gold Mine.

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The Pharmacy located in the same block as my office has become a regular hang-out spot for me. Nowadays, Pharmacies have evolved into interesting retail outlets selling not only pharmacological products but also personal accessories such as hairclips and aromatherapy paraphernalia.

I have been buying products like the Pharmaton, Remifemin, iron tablets, supplements consisting of ACE+Zinc for my mother, anti-arthritic for my grandma, spirulina tablets, saw palmetto plus pumpkin seed for papa....etc.
(cannot divulge too much, if my insurance agent is to know, she will add a loading into my health insurance premium, suspecting poor health!)

The rate at which I am stocking these items on the shelf of my dining cabinet, I might as well acquire the pharmaceutical business myself.

Yesterday I was there to get my another month's supply of anti-cholesterol drug.
mama: Give me the literature!

Mr.Lau: Hai, nak baca literature lagi...

mama: Ya lah! I want to know exactly what are the chemicals I will be pumping into my internal organs!

Mr.Lau:......(looking at me reading the very very fine prints)...
mama: I understand all these. I did a double major in Bio-Chemistry too when I was in University.

Mr.Lau: How interesting and a varied life you have! I wish mine is as colourful, all those knowledge and enjoying your travel agency business. Look at me!!! I studied pharmacy but end up squatting here behind the counter until sh*t also cannot come out already!!...squat and squat and squat all day long!!!!.......

mama: You are doing OK Mr.Lau, I see a lot of walk-in customers here.

Mr.Lau: Ya, but this place has become a 'kedai runcit', with very small profit margin. I cannot be rich like you, not in a 100 years...The turnover at your travel agency is huge!!! and you get to see the world!!!!!....

mama: No, no Mr.Lau. You are wrong! I am NOT rich because of the travel agency! I would probably be, if I am the supplier of nasi lemak for the MAS first class cabin service.

I am an investor!!

Since Mr.Lau has become like a friend to me, I told him that there are a lot of money to be made in the Bursa Saham Malaysia. It is like a gold mine. A gold mine!! You only need the right tool and the right location to dig!..Go read all the stock trading literatures available locally and click on the KLSE site that shows the realtime daily quotes for your complete guidance!!!

The KLSE Composite Index is at it's 6year high right now! I squatted for 6 years for this moment to arrive! My 23years of experience pouring over charts tell me that we could be smack at the bottom of an uptrend. Just walk along and enjoy the pickings.......

Best of luck and happy trading!!!.
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123040506

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It's 12.30pm on 4th of May 06 now!!
Fancy that!
So, I'm spot on the 123040506 time zone ....
Happy 123040506 to me.
Whatever mama,
as long as you are happy!!..
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