Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Week That Was

Mom and the boys at Red Box Monday. Pak Abu's behind the camera...

My very able Wonderwoman executive, Zira, manning the fort at the Federation dinner Wednesday.

Birthday girl Ann, new hairstyle all, flanked by colleague Fuzzie (left) and sister Awwa (right) at her birthday do Saturday.

FIRST of all, an apology is due for the slack in updating my blog. Believe me, it wasn't intentional. I had wanted to write and write, and there were so many things to scribble about, to comment upon.

Unfortunately, the mind was preoccupied with work and by the time Saturday approached, migraine conveniently took over. Suffice to say it effectively and spectacularly screwed up my weekend.

Yours truly's wargamas landmark which fell on Sunday last week was celebrated with a simple dinner with fellow senior citizen, Pak Abu, at our favourite Italian joint, La Risatta, in Medan Damansara. Monday night saw the family giving Mom a karaoke treat at Red Box, Mid-Valley.

Tuesday was packed to the brim with last-minute preparations for a gala dinner to be held the following day. The event, organised by the Federation of Public Listed Companies, Malaysia, was to honour the media. As FPLC's public relations "achi", I had to take the lead in organising.

The heavens opened on Wednesday afternoon, giving me the shivers about attendance. Knowing city folks as it were, I was afraid invitees would be deterred by the possibility of massive traffic crawls that they would decide not to come at all.

Thank God turn up they all did - we had a full house - but (there's always a "but" lurking in there somewhere...) the performers arrived at 6 pm instead of 3 pm as earlier planned. As such, the dry run flew out the window, pissing me off no end for I was deprived of an opportunity to give the whole event, including my emceeing, a run-through.

At times like this I thank my 20 years of experience in this line; scribbling notes at the last minute, ad-libbing my way to suit the occasion. I so much dislike unpreparedness for it offers too many opportunities to screw up.

Thankfully, everything went well (err, there was a slight glitch in the final dance performance when the music inadvertently stopped halfway, leaving the dancers flapping like lost chicken looking for their mother hen, but who's complaining?)

Somehow I felt those dancers scored points with that faux pas. I think the girls' outlandish (and skimpy) 'samba' attire with multi-coloured feathers, heavily-sequined boleros and God knows some other fancy stuffs they had up the ropol-ropol sleeves (they could have hidden a ferret or two in there and I wouldn't have been any wiser), were enough entertainment for guests.

Thankfully too, the Tan Sri president didn't chew my head off about the slip-up. And that he accepted the speech that I had prepared for him, verbatim. I guess he was being a good sport. Perhaps he too found the whole ridiculous scenario entertaining enough.

I thought I could take it easy Thursday; then I remembered my team had scheduled a meeting with PESENI (Association of Kelantan Artists) member Pak Zawi, to brief him about the forthcoming art exhibition that we are planning for PESENI.

Pak Zawi was returning to Kelantan after spending two weeks nannying his grandson in KL, so it made sense to brief him of the preliminary development so he could inform his fellow members upon his return. My team and I will be going to Kelantan soon to make a proper presentation to the association.

Thankfully, Friday was rather quiet. With my nose out of joint, all I wanted to do was sleep (which was what I did, incidentally, with Lillie curled at my feet). Blogging was out; much like Bukit Besi's decrepit iron-ore wagon train (keretapi lipang), the mind had stalled. It simply refused to regurgitate words.

A slight headache greeted Saturday; I instinctively knew it was going to be a bad day. But there was another meeting to attend, in Putrajaya this time. So off we went, praying hard it wouldn't be a convoluted one (it was short and sweet, thank God for His little mercies).

By noon my nagging headache had turned into a full-blown migraine. My migraine episodes, just like pyrotechnic shows, have always been spectacular - the endless throbbing and continuous puke sessions, the hot-cold-hot again-cold again sensation, the neck pain, the blurry vision...

Half the time I would sit up with arms encircling a pail, for hours sometimes, just so I could empty my gut. At times like these, all I prayed for was to pass out cold and wake up a day later with a clearer head.

That night the entire family celebrated Ann's birthday at Italiannis in One Utama without me. While they were merrily feasting on zuppe, spaghetti, gnocchi, lasagna, tiramisu and whatever else they had there, I was holed up in semi-darkness in the bedroom, wallowing in self-pity.

To conclude a sorely imperfect evening, Pak Abu got home on foot. The car wouldn't start! Luckily One Utama is just 15 minutes away (a brisk walk) from home. He forgot there were jumper cables in the boot...

Anyway, the car's back home. Everything's fine and dandy once again. For now. Let's see what this week brings. The way things go, I can bet my bottom ringgit there will be more hilarity in store for my good readers (at our expense, of course...sighhh)


PS: Caught Kak Teh 'live' on TV1 Sunday morning in the "Apa Kata Wanita" (What Women Say) programme. She was interviewed via skype in this week's segment about "Women In Journalism." Looked like she could use some sleep, the poor dear...

22 comments:

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Puteri,
Lillie needs further training in giving you comfort while you were sick. Poor you...here, let me give you a massage. aaahhh.....feel any better? You want a cuddle too? ala...cian dia. meow!

Unknown said...

Akaaakkkk...

You dah kurus laaaa... betul kata akak Datin mamasita... akak ada jus 5, wow.... you look great sis!

Tak kisahlah dgn kepenatan akak tu... akak loook canteekkk

Kak Ezza@makcik Blogger said...

Kak..u makan Jus mate 5 ya...saya ingat nak try laa..
bukan nak kurus sangat pun..sedang sedang sudah ler....hehehe

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Cat - Lillie was being a good girl. She's ok if there's no competitor for our affection... what an insecure pussy!

Raden & Ezza - Saya dok baca all over the place pasal the effectiveness of this Jusmate 5, so nak trylah. kalau dapat kurangkan sikit berat badan, bagus juga.. it's not so much nak selim melim pun, just to be healthy. ni naik tangga pun kekadang tercungap. so far, alhamdulillah.. kalau ikut instructions betul2, mungkin boleh turun dengan ketara.. insyaallah (err.. kekadang i ada tipu2 sikit bab dieting ni..LOL)

mamasita said...

You're amazing! Alangkah pening sikit I dah takboleh run around..terbongkang baring.
You with your migraine masih boleh buat macam2 and run around like a cockroach! Woohoo..

Happy Birthday to the dimpled daughter of yours!
Sorry girls..your mum is still more ravishing than ever..ni semua sebab dia dah lanyak Juicemate 5!!

tireless mom said...

Dear Kak Puteri

Do I see some pounds gone here? Best nya dapat enjoy and enjoy. No more worries for a wargamas

Matt Kopikarat said...

Salam Kak Puteri..sihat ker? Saya dan Pak Zawi sudah pun bermesyuarat pasal tu. Kami telah menetapkan tarikh untuk berjumpa dengan team Kak Puteri pada 14hb Nov (sabtu) ni. Sy akan cadangkan kepada PESENI perjumpaan nanti akan di buat di Heritage Art Gallery yg juga rumah kediaman kami Heritage Villa di Pasir Mas. Sambil tu boleh la Kak Puteri dan team jenguk2 lukisan sy kat galeri tu nanti. Insya Allah, jumpa kat Heritage Villa..kirim salam kat Pak Abu.

Deen

kelambuharimau said...

fuh..cayalah akak ni

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Mamasita & TM - Mudah2an kurus ler, tak larat dah dok bawak excess fat!

Deen - Dah sihat, Deen, tq for asking. Insyaallah, 14 Nov kita jumpa di Pasir Mas.

Kelambu - Bukan apa, kalau kita ligat buat kerja, otak tak jadi sayur.. 8-)

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Wah wargamas oreadi still so busy running around, all your full on activities r making me soooo very tired just reading it…hehehe.

Steady lah Puteri, we are not young anymore, u must learn to ‘tai chi’ some tasks to the younger ppl mah :)

……I think the girls' outlandish (and skimpy) 'samba' attire with multi-coloured feathers, heavily-sequined boleros and God knows some other…….. Hey got wardrobe malfunction or not????? I wud luv to c that!

Let’s be honest lah, it look like u r not about to retire soon, still got so much tenacity in you.
Good on ya!!!

Cheers,
Tommy

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Hehehe Tommy, it just so happened last week was a busy one. Usually my days weren't so packed. Any which way, I need a break badly mah!

NanaDJ said...

Puteri,
Your migrane must be very bad, poor you!
What a busy week, but am sure you enjoy being busy. Organizing function is never easy, something will always go wrong somehow but you realise that it is always the organizers who are conscious of the glitches. The bosses and the guests are normally oblivious to them unless of course they are so glaring.
Enjoy yourself in Pasir Mas - but careful lest you put on the weight you that you have lost. All the nasi kerabu, nasi dagang, nasi tumpang...

Pak Zawi said...

Kama,
Like Deen said, the date for your meet with PSENI Kelantan is set. Look forward to meeting you at Deen's place The Heritage Art Gallery.
The Excos that we brief seemed to be enthusiastic about the exhibtion and they will be having a full committee meeting soon to discuss the event and inform their members to get ready. Yehoo we are going to show the world what we have to offer.

لف توف™ said...

Like a beemer rejuvenated.
Carburetor ganti dengan fuel injection.
Auto ganti dengan manual shift.
Extra power from burning the fat (yang dok usung pi mai pi mai).
:-)

Matt Kopikarat said...

Insya Allah..see you and the team in Pasir Mas.

Deen

Anonymous said...
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Kama At-Tarawis said...
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Kama At-Tarawis said...

nanadj - thank God the migraine didn't linger for too long. It finally went off after 4 days. today is the first day I wake up without feeling pening. syukur..

pak zawi & deen - the team and I are so looking forward to meeting all of you in pasir mas come nov 14. habislah saya punya dieting haritu.. nana's list of nasi-nasi is already driving me nuts..:-)

lap - itu enjin lama ada sikit kuat menderam sekarang..LOL

Matt Kopikarat said...

Salam Kak Puteri..ahah..my wife and I decided to prepare nasi kerabu kuning ala kampung..less colestrol..eheh..kita makan tengahari santai kat pondok rumah Deen...experience countryside..oh..one more, how many of you will come? My wife wants to know that?

Deen

Kenali Seni Lukis Kelantan said...

Kak Puteri..sori to interrupt..eheh..kirim salam kat NanaDJ ya...

Deen

Kama At-Tarawis said...

Deen - kami bertiga. nasi kerabu sedap tuh. nanti ajak nanadj sekali..hehehe

Matt Kopikarat said...

Kak Puteri..kalu NanaDJ datang, nampak nya tak bermesyuarat ler kita ya! nanti posing sakan..apa2 pun, Kelantan sedang dilanda musim tengkujuh, hujan lebat pada sebelah petang, jadi perjumpaan nanti akan bermula pada pukul 9pg..so u have to contact Pak Zawi to Heritage Art Gallery..see ya!

Deen