India : Amul ad

Amul is the largest dairy company in India. They produce various types of milk product, ice cream, butter, cheese, yogurt and the whole spectrum of dairy products. You can see Amul ice cream cart everywhere in Delhi. 

The word amul is derived from the Sanskrit word amulya, meaning rare, valuable (source: wikipedia).

I watched this ad 10 times in average, everyday in India. The song sticks in my head until now.

I love this ad because it tells a lot about India - their culture, food and community.

Delhi : Missing happy hours

During my tenure in the office in Delhi, I went back at 4.30pm (by 5.00pm it started to get dark) every day. I had my dinner, solat, rest for a while - whether lying on the bed looking at the ceiling or replying emails from KL office. Really, nothing interesting on TV. 

We were not allowed to go out of the hotel by ourselves due to security reason, except with the car and driver assigned to us, which the service ends at 5pm everyday.

After relaxing, I went to level -1.

I went to the spa. To access the gym.

I LOVE THE HOTEL's GYM.

Weeknights, usually I will be the only one in the gym. Weekends, will be a bit crowded (4 people at most).

Westerners loves to run realllly fast on the treadmill or lifting weight.

I noticed Koreans and Japanese really love to read in the gym. That's exactly what I was doing too! (here)

After completing this book, I downloaded a few ebooks, enough for a couple of weeks' working out sessions in this gym.

I usually used 3 machines (treadmill, stationary bike and a cross trainer) until 9pm or whenever the gym boy getting restless and keep checking on me every five minutes because he supposed to close the gym at 9pm. lol.

If no one is looking, I will do a bit of weight lifting.

This is what I missed the most in Delhi.

My gym time. 

The sweet smell of the spa next door. The loud music the gym boy played for me whenever my handphone was out of battery and I cant read the ebook.

I lost a couple of dress sizes in Delhi but I gained it back a few weeks after in KL. Go figure.

Kembar

My problem with libraries...

I have not visited my office's library for quite some times. 
The last book I borrowed was in January (ok, not that long). 

The last time I visited National Library was last year. I was preparing a proposal for my Masters degree.

My problem with library is... when I walked in, I will have this sudden surge of overwhelming anxiety and goosebumps. My heart pounds and I can’t breathe. Too many books. Dont know where to start. I want to read everything.

Eventhough I went there for different purposes (doing economy report, preparing minutes, etc), I will end up at Design Section and have at least 10 books on design or architecture on my table.

Pizzaria

Last time, we have a Pinos Pizzaria at the ground floor of our office. It was fun to see Aunty Pizza prepare the dough and the pizza at the counter.

I love to eat the thin crust pizza at my room during lunch hour. I can eat the whole thing in one sitting.

But now, no more pizzaria there. Life goes on.

Borrowing stuff from KAED

I have borrowed a few exhibition components from KAED students from THIS EXHIBITION, to set up a Merdeka exhibition in my office. Me and my sons picked it up at KAED at night. That was in August last year.

I went there again to get some deco elements for my office's Bollywood night. Luckily I have a friend, lecturer in KAED who connects me with the right person. Again, me and my sons picked it up at KAED after work. That was in January this year.

These stuff has been lying around my office room for quite some times. Last weekend, I decided to return everything back to KAED. I need to clear my room (like, really clear macam nak move out). The kids helped me to bring it down from my office.

Then, they helped me to send it back to KAED. 

Alhamdulillah. Hutang selesai.

Kids' important events at school

I tried my best not to miss important events at my kids' school. If they are attending.

So far I missed none. I attended all beli buku days, first days, orientation days, sports day, cross country day and a few others. Not only for my kids, but for my nephew and niece as well.

I will usually bring baby Nazmi along so I can pretend to be busy rather than standing awkwardly in a corner, alone, when the kids are busy with their activities.

This was Nazran's orientation day on 12 January 2015.

Nabil at the starting line for cross country running a couple of weeks back. He got #18. My nephew #22, but in different categories.

Fortunately, I accidentally parked my car at the START/END LINE. I can just sit and watch them from the window with baby Nazmi without having to chase Nazmi around. 

Oh he is so handful nowadays.

Breakfast Menu

My MIL and BIL came to our house. I have no idea what to serve for breakfast. So I made Sherperd's pie, a classic [yet simple] British dish and lemon juice.

I prepared the potato and ground beef filling the night before. I woke up the next morning, layered the pie with sliced cheese in between and baked it for 40 minutes. Once the kids finished putting on their school uniforms, the pie is ready. 

Photo credit : Husband :)

(before he finished the whole thing +_+)

Saturday Bake

In the morning, we bake garlic bun. I grilled barbecue beef strip and prepared caramelised onions. The kids enjoyed putting their own topping/sauce, making their own tiny sandwich.

At night, Nazran helped me to bake cream puff. Not bad for the first attempt. I kept a few in a container and the next morning, Nazran woke up early and finished all the puffs! 

Saturday Arts : MICE

Nazreen read this book. He asked me whether they could make some crafty stuff that day.

After went through every project in the book and taking into account available materials, they agreed to make the mouse. Very simple. I could do it in 5 minutes, but of course, doing it with the kids, it took nearly two hours to complete (plus the tantrum and the fight, and waiting for turn to use the scissors and UHU glue). 

I only allowed them to use one pair of scissors and one tube of UHU glue for this project. They need to learn to share and to be patient while waiting for others to complete. At first, they were yelling and shouting, but after a while, they have learned to WAIT and let others finished what they were doing.

These are our Saturday Arts:

A [sheriff] mouse with a brown vest and stars

A mouse with a very heavy bottom.

Cute short-tailed mouse. When your brothers took a long time with the scissors and glue, just use the green label sticker for the nose! lol! creative one.

It supposed to be a cowboy mouse wearing a black jacket and a saddle [yes, I am confused as well]

I was chasing Nazmi around that I didnt have time to cut the mouse's ears and the string for the tail went missing so... it become a bird instead. Nazmi sleeps with the bird.

Nazreen made the silhouette and Nabil prepared the mouse's house (yellow plastic)

ASK Kit : The straighforward one

You want to join my office??
You need to have these qualities:

#alsofavdesign

(A and S are applicable to any office pun but K is crucial to my office)

Brotherhood : Good night

Before they went to sleep. Pakai baju Raya.
Nazmi was 4mo, I think.

1M4U : No more micromanager

I know I am a micromanager, which is not good, and being the manager of the programme this time around really makes me learned to let MOST OF THE THING go. 

Design?

I prepared the poster and labels. I designed the promotional graphic for social media too. Button badge? I made them too. Speeches for the Minister, President, the administrative programme, the invitation letter, RSVP, etc. I did that too. Negotiating with DBKL to have free plants and landscaping services, I did that too. What about the food? I choose the caterer and the menu as well. Money? Yes, I asked the money from the Treasurer and made the payment for everything. Kegilaan apakah ini?

When it comes to banner and bunting design, I just cant find suitable time to do it so I gave the wording to our office designer and he designed the whole thing.

It feels good. SERIOUSLY.

It feels good to be able to perform another task knowing that someone else is doing the design and I can have both tasks completed at the same time at the end of the day.

Starting from that day, I learned to trust other peoples' capabilities (but the problem is, they didnt have the level of passion and dedication that I am looking for).

ASK Kit : The last-minute designs - the not selected ones

These are among the design proposals.

I am not satisfied with the outcome given the time and commitments towards my family during weekend. 

Whatever designing work during the weekend, I need to do it with baby Nazmi on my lap. I try to minimise designing work on weekends.

ASK Kit : The chosen ones

I am a part of the design and development team in producing an interesting kit for new officers, including a set of posters on Attitude, Skills and Knowledge one must possess to work in our office. It is totally a voluntary work. I have produced 15 poster proposals and they have chosen a few. They wanted handwritten font and coloured background.

This one was not selected but I personally love it because I am a mind mapper. I think and read this way.

Delhi : Topological toys

I bought these for my sons, niece and nephew in Delhi. It is an ancient collapsible wire toys that could transform into (I dont know) 12 different shapes? or more. 

It can also be used as bracelet or hair accessory. My sons use it to hold stationery, fruits, glass, milk bottle and a bowl. It allows them to be creative. 

Although the wire shape was claimed as a symbol associated with other religions, but let's not go there. For me, it is just another topological toy.

Two long cakes

My office is having a makan-makan. They requested me to bake two chocolate cakes.

I am short of ingredients so I just bake one huge cake. I cut it into half, pour some chocolate ganache and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. 

There, TWO long cakes.

Unpublished DRAFTS

I have about 80 draft entries in my folder right now.

I am going to auto publish everything. Some of the drafts dated back in 2011. haha.

I usually waited to transfer the photos or edit the photos or get the photos from someone else. But now, I will just blog about whatever photo I have in my hand phone without editing it in Photoshop. I just use whatever filter available in the phone. 

TOT : Paper Plane

We need to prepare a paper plane from an A4 in one of the TOT sessions.

It is easy for me. Having four son, paper plane is something that I made almost everyday. 

The facilitator put some markings on the floor - Kampung (village), Daerah (district), Negeri (state), Negara (country) and Dunia (world). We need to make sure that our paper plane flew the furthest. 

A few planes managed to fly to the world during the trial session. But during the real game, only two planes managed to fly beyond the world marking. One of them was mine. 

It was a tie and I lose the final battle to 21yo Raizen Mahathir. You just cant beat a boy in paper plane game.

Nazmi and fridge

Have you seen this entry? (here)
He was ecstatic when he walked in our hotel room in Sepang. At last. A fridge of his size.

Slothville

...one day, he shall enter the Slothville like me.