My Journal

On Friday, August 11, 12006, the car was finally back to normal so I could fulfill my promise to take Happy to Ikea. So me, Happy, Radit and Ditha went there in the afternoon, got lost somewhere along the road (made a wrong turn) but finally got there after reading the map. We had to get the car at KLCC because Frieza took the car to the office for it was raining in the morning. It took us approximately an hour from KLCC to Ikea (which I’m sure we could’ve been there within 20 minutes if I didn’t take the wrong turn). Finally we reached Ikea at 2 o’clock, starving, except for Radit who wanted to have lunch at home before leaving.

We had lunch at the food court in Ikano Power Centre, then went to Aussino. Afterwards, we entered Ikea and walked around the store and did some shopping.

While we were walking around, Happy got a phone call from Laila the swimming teacher who was waiting by the swimming pool. In the middle of the conversation, her phone went off, battery dead. Unfortunately I didn’t have Laila’s number so we tried to switch sim cards but it was useless because the number was stored in the phone. Then I tried to think of who I could contact in order to get Laila’s number, and by ghost-to-ghost relationship (hubungan hantu-ke-hantu) we finally could contact her.

Then I got a phone call from Johan, my MBWG and VABB friend and trombone master, who said that he was in KL. He has been on a duty in Seremban for a week and wanted to spend the last night in KL. Unfortunately we couldn’t entertain him that night. He was looking for a music store and I just saw one near the food court where we ate lunch. So we made arrangements to meet on Saturday.

On Saturday 12 August 2006 morning, Frieza went to practice tennis with his friends. He wants go back to tennis where he feels more comfortable playing, rather than playing badminton with tennis strokes.

At 10 o’clock me and Radit went to Bukit Bintang by taxi to meet Johan who was with his friend. I remembered that we always pass a music store on our way to Bukit Bintang. And I didn’t make a wrong decision, for the music store was quite big with a large number of collections. Johan was looking for a trombone stand and he found a right one. He also bought a Dennis Wick trombone mouthpiece. Altough he couldn’t find a mute that he is also looking for, he seemed to be satisfied with what he purchased. The music store also sold brass instruments, including slide trombones with a price range from RM 1.500 to RM 6.000. Frieza, who joined us later from the tennis court, was also interested in the bass collection. OK, start dreaming again and start saving again !

We still had time before they have to check-in at the airport, so we went to KLCC because they wanted to see the digital camera that was advertised in the newspaper. It was in the Computer Exhibition in the Convention Centre, so we went there, which was very crowded, but they did get what saw in the advertisement and it was indeed a good deal. It was a Kodak Easy Share with 6 MP (I don’t remember the type and it’s other features) for the price of RM 499. It was indeed a good deal that both Johan and his friend each bought one camera.

Afterwards, we didn’t have time for lunch so we headed straight to the airport and arrived just in time for them to check-in and board on the plane. Johan’s plan that evening was to arrive in Jakarta around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, take a shuttle car, which he has already ordered, straight to Bandung where his car will be waiting to take him to a wedding ceremony where he will be playing in an orchestra that night.

I haven’t heard from him since, I just hoped that his plans went as scheduled and he could perform and also try his new stand and mouthpiece.

From the airport we had a late lunch at Maju Garuda (Frieza’s favorite) and then picked-up Frieza’s friend, Iskandar, who is on duty in KL for 2 months and staying at Sucasa Serviced Apartment. We took him home and later in the evening they went to Udin’s house and then we had dinner at Tom Yam 2000 (me, Radit, Frieza, Udin, Iskandar & Mas Tasfin) where we met Pak Yogi and family.

That night Iskandar stayed at Udin’s house.

Sunday 13 August 2006 was Frieza’s birthday, but there was no special celebration. In the morning we went swimming, Frieza’s friends were also there. Radit refused to go in the water at first, he even refused to wear his swimsuit. But once he got inside the water, he was enjoying his time and as usual, wouldn’t stop talking while swimming.

For lunch we tried the food court in Taman Setiawangsa and went shopping at Giant. Afterwards we just stayed home enjoying the weekend.

Yesterday I received an email from my former office sending translation works and as always with a tight schedule. At first I wanted to refuse it for they haven’t paid my two previous works, but I’m just not the type who can easily say no to a friend. So I just replied the email asking about the follow-up of my 2 months old invoice and fortunately there was a nice respond saying that it will be processed promptly. At least that was a good will, compared to the email in which I sent my invoice 2 months ago where there was no respond.

So, yes, now it’s 2 am and I’m still working on my translation works (haha.. actually I’m writing my journal and a few hours ago I was chatting with my good old friend), one of the files I’m working on consist of 56 pages and they want it and the other files to be done by Thursday. I could only say "I’ll try to do my best" which means that it’s impossible to finish all the works by Thursday, unless I work 24 hours non-stop. Hey, I’m still a mother that has to do some house chores too !

And the interesting thing is, why do I always get translation works when we’re having company in the house ?! Frieza’s friends from his former office in Jakarta are coming on Thursday (which would not be a problem if I could finish my work by then, but again it’s impossible !). They have informed us since around 2 weeks ago, and they’re going to stay in our place. I love visiting friends, I feel happy when they stay with us… I’ll just have to make a good schedule of being a good host and completing my work on time. I just hope that it will work out as I want them to be… friends enjoying their visit, my work done as soon as possible and get paid for the works I’ve done.

This afternoon Radit started his first swimming lesson with Ditha & Lala. As usual, Radit was scared at first to go inside the pool, but once he’s inside, he doesn’t want to go out. He’s still shy with his teacher, so I had to assist him by following the teacher’s instruction. As an obedient child, Radit followed the teacher’s instruction although I have to always be by his side. At the end of the lesson, he can paddle while hanging on a swimming board, even though I still have to hold the board so he doesn’t drown. Sometimes his hands are not straight yet, and most of the time he still kicks with his knee, not paddle from his thigh (easy for me to say.. I too could never do the free style, I always hate the paddling).

At least he’s now getting more used to the water, the swimming pool, and his teacher. When I asked him if he wanted to go swimming again some other day, he said a definite yes.

The sad part is… I guess I left my cellphone near the swimming pool, I totally forgot when we were getting back home. All I remembered was to bring my shorts (which I though my cellphone was in), my swimming goggles and Frieza’s wallet that was given to me to pay for the swimming board. I remembered the last time I used my cellphone was to call happy who overslept, then I though I put it back in the pocket of my shorts, but I guess it must’ve slipped out. And to make it even worse, I only realized that it was missing around 2 hours later at home when Frieza wanted me to test his new ringtone. When he tried to call my cellphone, the respond was a machine saying "Please try again later". That’s when we were convinced that it must be in someone else’s hand, cause if it was still somewhere by the pool or someone took it for a good reason, the phone should still be on. Frieza tried to search for it around the swimming pool, but he came back empty handed. Despite the fact that my cell phone is gone, what I regret the most is the phone numbers and messages and photos that I will be missing.

Frieza said there must be something wrong with us, there’s something not halal because we keep getting trials. I think we should do more self-reflects, what mistakes have we made, try to fix them and do more good things in life. Do your obligations to get your rights. I guess I haven’t performed all my duties so my right is taken as a reminder. And as another reminder, be more cautious with your belongings !

Radit, as usual, is the most saddest when he hears that something is missing. He was the one crying over my missing cellphone.

As a compensation for working during the weekend when he was offshore, Frieza received two days off the office and took it on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday he used the day to take care of the car and on Friday we went on a holiday to Melaka.

Friday morning, we woke up late, actually I did woke up in the morning to do my prayers but I went back to sleep because nobody was leaving early and hoping to wake up at around 7. Eventually I woke up at 8, prepared breakfast, woke up Radit who only had a bottle of milk for breakfast, took a bath, packed our clothes and stuffs and we departed from Kampung Warisan at 10 o’clock. The Tun Razak highway was rather crowded. Around Nilai area, Radit had to do a pit stop, so we parked at Nilai Rest Area for Radit to do his pit stop and Frieza had another breakfast (bread and egg was not enough…hihi..)

I was trying to feed Radit too when he threw-up, most likely due to traveling with an empty stomach. So I had to clean him up first and change his clothes and then feed him again with nasi lemak and a hard-boiled egg. We continued our journey at around 11.15 and arrived at Malacca Town at 12.30. Went around the town to have a look at the situation and tried to called several hotels for an available room. The hotels recommended by Frieza’s friend were fully booked so we just tried calling other hotels we passed by and looks ok. We finally got a room at Seri Costa Hotel, but couldn’t check-in until 2 o’clock, so we went to find the nearest mosque for Frieza to do his Friday prayers while me and Radit waited in the car.

On the way to the hotel, we passed Jonker’s Walk, which was a road full of antique shops if you’re interested in, but we weren’t so we didn’t make a stop.

The hotel was adequate for us who just need a place to crash-in, it’s clean, the room’s ok, the hotel’s location is convenient. After checking-in and putting our bags in the room, we went for lunch and sight seeing around the city. It’s a old & small city which reminds us of Cirebon, with many preserved old-fashined buildings. We walked around the Proclamation of Independence Memorial, A’Famosa fort, walked up to St. Paul’s Church on top of the hill where we could see the city from up there, then took the beca’ passing the People’s Museum & Christ Church where there were many souvenir shops and sidewalk stalls. The beca’ itself was was modernized with a tape and cd player, during the ride we were entertained with Malay songs.

Afterwards we went back by ourselves to the souvenir shops and bought a pair of t-shirt+shorts for Radit, ate cendol & es kelapa tehn went back to the hotel to rest. We were planning to go out again later at night, I wanted to watch the ‘Light and Sounds’ show (and Frieza said.. "jauh-jauh cuma mau liat lampu" .. anybody remember that old joke ?!) and the beca’ driver said that there will be a night market where we can find many varieties of food and of course we wanted to see the city during night time.

But none of the above plan could be actualize, because Radit was very exhausted, he slept from late afternoon until the next morning. We thought about letting him sleep in the car while we go around the city, but he was sleeping very peacefully that we decided to stay in the hotel. Frieza went out to buy dinner and we just watched horror movies on the TV that night.

The next morning, yes, Radit woke up early, so we all took a bath and had breakfast downstairs (provided by the hotel). Radit ate so many sausages, he must’ve been very hungry. Afterwards we ride around the city with no destinations, went back to the hotel and checked-out at 10 o’clock.

Took the exit at Afamosa Resort and went to Afamosa Water World. Played there for around 2 hours, went on the family raft ride, then Radit went to play in the Kid’s Pool, went to the wave pool and finally followed the lazy river that circled the entire area. Afterwards we had lunch, took a bath and went home.

Radit immediately slept even before we exited Afamosa Resort. We stopped somewhere along the road to buy durians, ate there and took several home. The weather was so hot that it made us who just went swimming very sleepy. I slept for a while and then took over as a driver from Nilai to our apartment. The traffic was rather congested in the MRR2 and we arrived home safe and sound.

On Wednesday 2 August 2006 afternoon, Frieza called from the office saying that his friend Doni is leaving for Nigeria today from Jakarta and will transit at KLIA for around 3 hours. So we planned to visit him there that night. Doni’s message was for Radit to have an afternoon map so he won’t be sleepy when we meet that night.

That afternoon Radit took a nap easily, maybe because we was still feeling rather sick and the cloudy and rainy afternoon was just perfect for an afternoon map. He actually slept 3 hours that afternoon.

Doni’s flight was not to arrive until 21.30 so we left our apartment around 8PM. The traffic was still congested but we made it at KLIA on time. Then it was rather difficult to find Doni because he could not be reached by his cellphone and according to the person in charge, usually transit passangers of less than 6 hours are not allowed to exit the airport. So we just waited for Doni to call while Radit played in the airplane shaped playground. Eventually Doni did call from a public phone and said that he had to exchange his tickets because he flew from Jkt to KL by MAS, but his connecting flight to Dubai was with Emirates. It was a blessing in disguise, for Doni had to exchange his tickets in the Emirates check-in counter and we could meet him there.

The check-in counter was crowded, mainly with Middle-Eastern people who seems to be going home after having a holiday at KL. We were amazed by their luggages… there were many oversized baggages, they must have been shopping a lot !

Doni was also carrying 3 bags, one large travel bag, one work bag and one laptop bag. If he wants to check-in the bags, he would have to pay for a rather large amount of money, but he also might not be allowed to carry all bags inside the airplane. So we went to buy a cabin sized luggage and Doni moved his stuff from the travel bag and work bag to the luggage. He had to leave behind several items that could not fit in the luggage. He seemed to be un-prepared for travelling, looking at what he’s carrying and by his story that he was the last person to check-in and borad the airplane. I was rather surprised because this is not his first time to travel abroad, although his previous trip was not as far as Africa !

But it was fun to meet him even for a short time. We hope he experience a nice and safe journey and enjoy his new life there ! We haven’t heard from him since, we just hope everything’s alright.

So I confronted the problem with the car with my emotions instead of thinking rationally. Last Friday morning when the car won’t start, I didn’t want to call the Proton workshop because I was still disapointed with their service the day before, making us wait for 3.5 hours with no result and I could also blame them for making the battery low. Eventually I called the alarm workshop and the person who received my phone said that she will inform the mechanic and the mechanic will call me back (but he never did).

On Friday afternoon, me, Radit, Happy & Ditha went to KLCC. First we had lunch at the Asian Flavor food court because the children were starving. Then, our next destination was the money changer where I usually send money to Indonesia at Wisma Central. Unfortunately it was raining hard outside, so we decided to wait for the rain while cruising around Isetan that was on sale. In the children section, we met Ivy (please forgive my rudeness for not recognising you because you look different !). Ivy was very eager calling at me while I was in confusion and trying hard to remember the face.. I’m so sorry… (Ivy, I made my promise to mention our ‘reunion’ in my journal ..hehe..)

Ivy and her family was on holiday from Miri (saba kota..hehe..) Her two daughters were playing with Ivy’s friend while Ivy was cruising around and her husband was waiting patiently ..wow.. how wonderful ! When her children came, they went running around with Radit & Ditha until suddenly Radit came to me sobbing that he lost one of his cars, when it was actually just misplaced and Ditha came holding the car.

Afterwards we tried to cross to Wisma Central again, but it was still raining. So Happy bought a big umbrella (sorry, I don’t want to buy any umbrella because we already have 3 big umbrellas at home) and we went to Wisma Central to transfer money to Indonesia. Happy said that the rate was better compared to Western Union.

Then we went back to KLCC because the children still wanted to play, they were disapointed that they could not go to the playground due to the rain. So they played inside Isetan in the toy section where there were trains etc. that you can play around with. Radit & Ditha were enjoying their time there that me and Happy decided to leave them there while we walked around the mall doing some window shopping and actual shopping ..hehe.. every time we went back to see how our children were doing, they were still playing around and didn’t seem to miss us. It was getting late, but if we tried to go home by LRT it will be very crowded, so we decided to wait for Harry who arrived at 8 o’clock and easily got the children out of the toy sections then we went home by taxi.

When we arrived home, 6 bottles of mineral water were put in front of the door. No, not again ! The last time I ordered mineral water was when the Waslam Family were coming to visit, and when the delivery men arrived, me and Radit were caught in a traffic jam somewhere around KLCC. This morning I did order for water and as usual the lady who received my call said that they would probably send the water on Monday, so I thought that they were coming on Monday, but it seems that that they came while we were still at KLCC. So now we have 12 empty bottles and 6 fully-filled bottles and we haven’t paid for 12 bottles. I guess I’ll just have to go and return the bottles myself while paying.

On Saturday and Sunday, while Frieza was still offshore, me and Radit stayed home, both feeling unhealthy. Radit threw-up during Saturday night and Sunday morning and had a fever. I caught the flu from Radit because we slept together while Frieza is away. It was quite a miserable weekend.

On Monday morning, feeling better and could think rationally, I called the Proton workshop and the mechanic came with a spare battery to replace temporarily our low battery. After Radit came back from school, we went to the alarm workshop to have the alarm unit replaced with a new set because the previous one broke down. The mechanic in the alarm workshop said that there was a leak under the driver’s seat that caused the alarm to break down so me and Radit went back to the Proton workshop to have the car examined, but the mechanic there didn’t find any leak. Oh, well… at least the car is now running and the alarm in function. So that night we could pick-up Frieza at KLIA.

I knew that the car problem could have been fixed on Friday if I was thinking rationally then, but, hey.. now it’s fixed and I can do it !

although… the story continues….

On Wednesday morning, Frieza decided to take the car to the office because he had to return his safety shoes and helmet and yesterday (Tuesday) he had to go all the way to Terminal Putra, hoping that the LRT would be less crowded there but he was wrong so he ended up late getting to the office.

But around five minutes after he went down to the car, he went back up saying that he couldn’t open the car using the alarm remote and when he tried opening the door manually, the alarm was not on. So he just took the car to the office and said nothing happened except on the way home when he was filling up the gas, suddenly the alarm went on by itself and turned off again within 10 seconds. So, the alarm problem is not settled yet..

On Thursday, Frieza took the day off because he was working during last weekend. He went to the Proton workshop to do the routine service and after lunch we went to the alarm workshop. It seems that the alarm unit broke down again because of the leak under the driver’s seat and they refused to replace it again if the leak problem is not fixed.

Frieza called our Proton sales agent, Josephine, to complain, and she said that she will settle the problem by taking the car to the big workshop in Damansara. But that will not be done until Monday. In order for the alarm to not go on and off by itself, the alarm mechanic took off the alarm fuse and now we’re using an alarm-less car.

One funny thing, we noticed that most of the cars in the alarm workshop was also Proton Gen-2, which made us thinking, was there a defect during manufacturing that many cars of the same type have the same problems ? We could only wonder and see what happens on Monday.