Blackout

Beberapa minggu lepas kecoh tentang isu blackout semasa proses pengiraan undi di beberapa pusat undi untuk PRU13.

Sama ada sahih atau tak berlakunya blackout, jangkamasa blackout itu berlangsung, serta benar atau tidak dakwaan tentang kiraan undi yg diubah; hanya mereka dan keluarga mereka sahaja yang tahu.

Ok, here's some facts yg sahih (facts mmglah sahih kan? Ke x semestinya?)

1. Di Cairo, ketika musim menginjak ke Summer ni, boleh dikatakan setiap hari blackout.

2. Jangkamasa 5 minit - 3 hours. Avg selalunya 1 jam.

3. Whatever statistics or pattern that you thought u had think through (cth: area rumah i akan blackout every Wednesday & Friday , 7pm - 8pm) , well, u can throw it out of the window. Takde pattern okeh. Suka hati mak dia lah nak blackout hari apa, pukul berapa, area mana, berapa lama).

4. Oh y i said or thought there must've been a pattern in place? Sbb it is an 'expected occurrence'. Weols tau rumah akan blackout, and we knew that whoever controls electricity kat Cairo ni mmg dah catu electric ikut kawasan2. So kalau hari ni rumah ana blackout, esok rumah ente lah. BUT, like other things in Egypt, it is better not to expect anything at all. After all, dont we all love surprises??

5. I'm not sure if this is a fact, but it cud be true. According to my source (Source: Our driver. Hihu), the hotter / the higher the temperature, maka byk kalilah blackout ini berlaku. Cthnya today, 2 kali blackout. Siang td for 3 hours, mlm ni i hope sekejap je .( sbb tgh blackout rajin la nak update blog kalau x sibuk je dgn benda2 duniawi lain). Hehehe. Oh temperature arini mmg rasa mcm kena iron. Bukan iron-besi, iron seterika tu. lepas berjln kat luar, pegang baju rasa suam je. Kalau buat ikan kering ke sotong kering ke syok gak ni. Walaubagaimanapun, harapannya , jgnlah berkali-kali blackout ni, esp time anak2 di rumah. Sian drg and mama drg. Ini kalilah. Lain kalilah. Whateverlah.

6. Blackout di sini, like other things yg berlaku di bumi Mesir ni, mmg btul2 mengajar kita menjadi lebih sabar an redha and adakala pasrah dgn sesuatu perkara. Kalau kat Msia mcm ni, rasanya TiEnBee mesti dah kena bako dgn org2 yg majoritinya mmg kurang sabo.

Hmmmm..It's already past an hour. Wah. Lama k blackout. Tadi main Candy Crush sampai Level 14 pastu habis life. Pastu xley connect kt fb sbb wifi mati bersama electric. Cant retry. Stuck kat ctu.

Sabar.......

Why Brenda is my new Survivor hero

Note: best read after you have watched ep 13 of Survivor Caramoan. If u r not a survivor fan, stay calm and keep reading :).

I used to adore Parvati's strategy when it comes to Survivor. Well, her strategy was mainly being flirtatious, which is her strength (plus her ever charming personality and also making strategic alliances)..she's also fierce in challenges.

She remained my no 1 Survivor hero for her tactical strategies and how she carried hersef throughout the game..until last night's episode of Survivor Caramoan which makes Brenda my new no. 1 Survivor hero. Despite the lack of confessionals that she has gotten throughout the season, last night's episode kind of summarize Brenda's whole game plan and surprisingly turned her from an almost invisible player to one of the most unforgettable character to ever play the game.

I disliked Brenda during her 1st season in Nicaragua. Although she adopted an almost similar approach as Parvati , she seemed to have an air of arrogance in her attitude towards the game (and the other players). This time around she's humble, always positive, (still) very competitive, selfless and a whole lot of every other redeeming quality you could find in a person.
And most importantly, she could've use her looks to lure the guys to follow her game plan, like Andrea did (read: the flirting strategy), but she didnt. She was genuine. Genuinely playing the game.

It is sad to see her leave the game in such a cruel blindside. I was teary throughout the whole of episode 13 of survivor caramoan, all because of Brenda.

Brenda's dad advice to her reminded me of my (1st) ex-boss (at my 1st workplace) (duhhh) advise to me; 'Be Humble.' .. My ex-boss words were 'Stay Humble'.. It does get you far in life, but only if you are lucky to be surrounded with nice kind people :).

Brenda's likable persona, her humility, generosity and kindness (which is the opposite of what she was when she 1st played the game 3 years ago) costs her the game and ultimately the million dollars.

In a game like Survivor - as Cochran put it in one of his confessionals - 'Like-ability is a liability'

And like the game of Survivor, the real world can be as cruel too. Based on my experience, all these kind traits are often judged as 'weaknesses' by others.

But..i'll choose kindness over anything else even if it means i'll be at the losing end. Because at the end of the day, it is what's in you that matter most. Are you proud of the way you play the game? Are you proud of the way u treat others? Are you proud of the way you live and the choices you make?

Brenda's happy and proud at the way she play Survivor. I'm happy that she's happy. And i believe that eventhough she wouldnt be winning the million dollars, she has win the hearts of more than a million fans out there. And most importantly she stayed true to herself and held on to her dad's advice :)

Oh, i cant wait for the season finale on sunday , which will only be available online next monday!!! Cochran FTW!!

*pic of Brenda hugging her dad before a reward challenge. Love!

Huh?

Apakah benda paling 'huh?' yg pernah anda alami?

My 'huh?' moment(s) would be every time someone says,

'Boringla jadi housewife'
'Perlukan aktiviti untuk hilangkan rasa boring as housewife'
'Bosanlah duduk rumah je'

Dan yg seangkatan dgn nya.

Clearly, mereka yg ckp ni is not really doing the real housewives' stuff.

Because if they do... Tak sempat nak boring ok! Tak sempat! There's a million things to do in a day. I only choose to do less than 5 out of the million and still i x sempat boring.

My point is, don't complain. Enjoy this life that Allah has granted for you. There are so many people out there who wish they could be a stay at home wife/mum.

Alhamdulillah, i'm loving every second of it ;)

Huh? Really?? Hahhaha!

Ok minus the part that i need to do laundry from A to Z. I hate doing laundry! Urghhhh!!!

That feeling

When everything you say works against you.

When you cant say something without sounding like you are irrationally blaming somebody when in reality you wanted that person to know that what he or she is doing is wrong and its hurting you.

When you ended up being blamed for being irrational.

When you know that he or she looks up to another person in the way that he or she should look up to you.

When you know in your heart that you can never measure up to another person, even if you tried.

When you realized that you cant change who you are but you know you have to in order to .. Err.. Compete?

When you know that only Allah knows what you are exactly going through.

That feeling.. That always brings tears to my eyes. ;(

Luminarc kat Egypt murah

....Probably because they're made in France and France is just across the sea from Egypt.

Eversince berkahwin dgn my other half, we've been hunting for that perfect dining set for our home.

Sanggup ok tunggu pegi Langkawi baru nak beli.

Tapi bila dah sampai Langkawi last year, x beli pun.. X igt kenapa but we did buy a corningware set and se-kuali Tefal which i luv very much! Sgt2 berguna!

We saved our mission to buy dining set until we find other opportunity to purchase at lower cost elsewhere. For the remainder of our months in Malaysia, we settled for pinggan dari kedai jimat n IKEA sets which both my mom and mother-in-law turunkan kepada kami.. Apparently IKEA's plates are too heavy (compared to Corelle or even the plates from kedai jimat). Anyway, we still luv them, 1. Because they're gifts from our moms 2. Because diameter pinggan tu besar and i luv big plates and i dont know why. Hahahaha.

Maka nak dijadikan cerita, bila pindah ke Egypt, semua ckp belilah set pinggan di sini. Egypt's branded dining set adalah sgt cantik! Cantik sgt! Sgt2! I luv most of the designs! Semua colour base dia white, tp the corak is either gold or silver or a combo of both! Cantik x tipu punya. I rasa ada satu kedai kat Great Eastern Mall KL.. Err.. Ricarrdo namanya as confirmed by en hubby, yg seakan2 adopt these designs, tapikan tetap yg kat sini lagiiiiiiiiii cantik!

Tapikan, patutla org x promote sgt suh beli sbb harga dia range dlm RM1000-RM3000... Muahahahaha! Mmg tak terbeli lah . Huk!

Anyway, weekend baru ni pergilah kami ke 6 October - kilang kitchenware di Abbasiah, Cairo ..drg panggil kilang tp sebenarnya kedai yg jual brg dr kilang... Mmg superb brg2 esp periuk belanga and all those stainless steel kitchen utensils.

Pinggan2 mahal egypt tu pun byk n pelbagai corak. The set that i like the most berharga 3000+LE.. That's about 1500RM.. Mmg mimpi dlm mimpi la nak beli. miahahahaa!

So beralih lah ke arah set2 yg lebih humble aka Luminarc.. 1 whole set ranges from 280LE (old designs) to 500++ LE (bahagi la 2 utk dpt harga in RM).. They also sell by pieces. Satu ketul pinggan harga yg design baru bole la dpt RM 12 gitu. Murah ke?

Setelah meneliti membelek dan bersabar dgn ke-tidak-friendly-an salesperson dlm kedai tu (which is the common attitude of most salesperson in egypt, and i'm already getting used to it) , i ended up not buying a single piece..

Whatttt??? Mcm window shopping kan? I came all the way from Maadi to purchase a set of Luminarc but ended up with nothing! I dont even buy anything else from the store too. Amazing! Now, for those of u who may not know before, i dont do window shopping unless of course, if i wanted to buy a window.

It is one of the most gratifying moment in my life - not buying the things i intended to buy. Sebabnya design2 yg ada kt 6 October tu x cantik.

Anyway, today i went to carrefour n bought a few pieces of Luminarc plates n bowls there. Not the full set but cukuplah buat hidang lauk. Jualan penghabisan stok kt carrefour td N the design that i purchased takde kat 6 October. So, yay!

Oh kat carrefour bole dpt at RM5 per piece (bergantung kpd corak plate tu). Kesimpulannya, Luminarc kat Egypt murah. Sesuailah dgn budget org kebanyakan mcm kami. Hehehe.

Tu je nak cite. Kepoh kan?
;)