b3 b0rn.. c0nf0rm, b3 si|3nt .. di3

after dropping of jie at klcc parking, i raced back home as we had left the office after 6:35pm.. luckily the elevated highway (e33 e12) was clear so managed to reach jln jelatek in less than 5 mins (albeit with a tad of annoyance of having same ass driving a toyota vios not comprehending the use of indicator lights when trying to cut into the queue at the smart tag lane)

jelatek was of course packed but thanks to understanding motorists coming from jln ampang, it wasn’t a problem merging into the main traffic again.

was approaching the flats nearby al-amin integrated school in AU1… when i spotted a maroon ford ranger coming from the opposite traffic.. immediately felt myself getting up uptight and pissed of… i eyeballed the driver (who was a 20-something guy) and wondered whether this was one of the culprits of the trajedi julai. noticed that the vehicle turned into the flats and my thought to my prejudiced self – most probably he is, living in the flats but owning a car like that – he may need to resort to stealing to fill up the fuel-guzzler of a machine.

there goes my pahala puasa.. and that at 7:05pm ….

i may never get over this but i hope i do.. ford ranger was my favorite truck model for the longest time – but freakin’ culprits had to be driving one when the trajedi happened.

*sigh*

i think i came to the realisation that fasting is one of the tenets of islam only when we came back from papa’s posting overseas. i do have vague recollections of mama & papa refraining from eating, but never actually made anything out of it. we did have fun though gathering at malaysia hall and getting all dolled up in our baju kurungs to celebrate with the other malaysians.

i was already 8 by the time we were back on tanah malaya, and as such had a late start (worse for ayu though as she was already 9).. mama had somehow managed to persuade us that this is part of our ibadah (apart of the requisite 5x day solat) so as dutiful children, we woke up at that ungodly hour to stuff our face with iftar sahur spread.

i did remember though that mama promised that if we were unable to last the whole day, half a day of fasting should be sufficient as a start. that became the rock in my attempt of being a good muslim child. so for the following few weeks… true to what mama had said, i did fast for half a day… from the time i left for school until we came back….

only catch was – i was in the afternoon session! .. so i’d happily grab something to eat after mama headed for work and left us at our own devices before the school bus was due to pick us up. i remember scavenging the kitchen for food – any food, since of course, no lunch was prepared… i even recall having sugar cone slathered in jam as a snack.. our appointed childminder never knew as she who would check on us every hour, having her hands full with iqmal who at 5, was placed at her house.

then when i arrive home from school and mama questioned whether i managed to fast that day, i would proudly say ‘puasa setengah hari!’ … and she would take it at face value.

it was only the year following that i truly understood what mama meant by fasting for half a day.. though i only managed to fast the full month once i turned 10…

now, what’s your story?

wishing all family, friends and acquaintances a very blessid ramadhan.

may we return to the true meaning of this chosen month above all months and not get carried away with temptations

was recommended to attend the course by the HOD way back in dec 2008 – but had a minor glitch when i arrived as my name was not in the registration list!… apparently, after the approval was given by HR – i had neglected to submit the registration myself as had wrongly assumed it was handled by the HR exec as per all my previous courses. good thing the organiser said they had no worries accommodating me as there were a few no-shows so i didn’t drive all the way across kl to sri damansara for nuthin.

nyahaha.. well, i thought i was in for a humdrum course abt crunching numbers and intepreting ratios/gearing etc. but if today’s session is anything to go by, i think i could safely say i would recommend the session to those who have never tried a T account, done a trial balance or knows their assets from their liabilities.

as for me, being a graduate in accounting/finance – it is more of a refresher and in some ways, an eye-opener as we went to basics and the trainer pretty much explained it in a way that layman (in this case, chemists, engineers, manufacturing, marketing background peeps) could understand.

the last i looked forward to attending training was back in June (or was it July?)…

ok.. time to snooze.. have that drive across kl again tomorrow.