The story of Kiah, Senah, Jenab and Jah.... Ep 1

Let me introduce you to Senah, Jenab, Kiah and Jah, the handful of Malays in the office. 3 of us have worked in this company for 5 years but we become friends only in this new office. How funny. Senah is fairly new in the office but because she is a joker, everyone goes to her for some comic relief. Jenab is a producer, funny girl. Jah looks like an elder sister to them all but believe it or not, they are all of the same age! And of course Kiah is also known as Zanee O!

Senah, Jenab and Jah are closeted Malay fans. They read URTV, HMI magazines in their room and when they buy the magazines from mamak shop, they carry them in their bags.... so nobody knows. Kiah one day asks Senah, why she buys such magazine, she said, it was for her mom.... rite...like Kiah believes that.

One day, Kiah told Jenab and Senah to bring the mags to the office. While Kiah was out of her room, Senah left the magazines on her table. Soon after, she came and started teasing Kiah. Excuse me, Kiah reads trash but she will not spend her money on such trash. Kiah reads People, Hello and New Woman.... ahem...

Get My Name Right!

I don't understand why people cannot get my name right. They claimed that the "Y" in my name is difficult to pronounce. If you cannot pronounce my name right, don't even bother attempting it in the first place. Why can't they just ask me straight up?

When I was handling India, everyone in the India office called me Mansor... and I corrected them several times. It came to a point where I refused to even reply to emails because i was very annoyed. When they finally met me, of course all were surprised to see a female instead of a male and then I got my name right. Another experience in India, I was held at customs because I had some tapes with me. The immigration officer insisted that I am Indian because Mansor is an Indian name (!). Because he had my passport, I gave in and admitted to being an Indian! Not only am I an Indian, I am also a male in India! Gosh.

I guess my dad's name is easier to pronounce and off they go calling me that. This morning, I had several deadlines to meet and I received this call from Stan Chard wanting to offer some new card deals. The conversation went like this:

Caller: Hi! Can I speak to Mrs Mansor?
Me: You want to speak to my mother? (my mom sometimes give my number to people). What is this regarding?
Caller: Oh no... I want to speak to saiyai....
Me: (*rolled eyes) SYAHRIZAN you mean?!
Caller: hehehe.... yes.
Me: It's not funny. She is busy and not interested. goodbye

See, if you are a sales/marketing person, pronounce my name right. I am super fussy and you rub me the wrong way, there goes your business or potential to get any business from me.

Durian Queen

I love durians. Of late, I have been eating lots of durians. Yum.

When we were young and whenever we "balik kampung", we never failed to have a durian feast - be it along the road on the way to visit my relatives, with cousins, at every meal - breakfast, tea, dinner, supper and we even went to dusun durian to eat! Simply memorable. My late father used to remind us to not drink tea after a durian feast. Something to do with the chemical mix and how it will give you a headache.

Do you know that there are many ways to eat durian? You can make lempok durian - easy to make but takes a lot of time. I remembered making lempok durian with my grandaunt in Medan. The old lady took 2 days to make it. You can also make lempoyak durian - you mix this with sambal belachan and eat this with lauk lemak. Wah... shiok.

My favorite is eating durian with rice - yep. All you need is plain rice, water, a pinch of salt, sugar and durian - mix them all together. Alternatively, you can replace rice with glutinous rice and water with coconut milk. I normally eat this after a meal - like your dessert. The latter is soooo good that within 5 mins you'll start looking for your bed. Macam ular....zzzzz....

I Wanna Be an Ang Mo

I don't always watch MTV channel - I'm past that age.

Anyway, caught the hosted links - VJ Fazura and VJ Colby. Colby is ang mo and of course the first one is notlah. Wah wah wah....... she speaks with an American accent sey. You see, if I have never heard her speak English before, I would have thought that hey, she probably studied or grew up in the states. But I have heard her before and the minute I heard her speak with an accent, I could not believe it. First, she was trying hard to follow what Colby was saying and was probably in her mind thinking of how to respond to him. She was probably rehearsing in her head, how can i say this out properly? Secondly, her sentences were short, Colby was doing all the talking and she could not interject anyway. She was not a natural. She was making faces, smiling and smiling - No substance.

This is such a perfect opportunity for her to extend her reach to non-Malay audience and her performance to me is a turn off. Why can't she just be her true self, speak as per normal and stay true to her identity?

Oh well, I'm known to voice out my opinion. I'm definitely voicing this one out to the producer and the C&C head.

A Dummies / Idiot Guide To....

Have you come across this book? I saw this book ages ago and i thought it was meant for IT professionals only. I hate the title by the way, don't like to be associated with the title. Yes, where image is concerned, I am quite particular.

Guess what, image aside, I actually borrowed this dummies guide book from a library recently. And it has nothing to do with IT related topics. I needed to read about pregnancy and I want a book that is very comprehensive. I found several but mostly they are very UK/ Europe focused except for this Dummies Guide to Being Pregnant. I have to admit, it is a very good book, very comprehensive.

My initial reaction was, "how do I walk out of the library with this book?" As I read the cover page, I realized that 50 million copies of this book have been sold worldwide. At least I know I am not the only idiot reading this... there are 50 million idiots out there and I am joining that group!

Burp and Fart

In my workplace, we give awards to stars who can burp and fart the loudest. Sometimes, we thank our intestines and our anus for holding on and giving way to the burp.

so I have been farting and burping a LOT of late.... sometimes I get exhausted, grumpy and moody. Obviously, I have put in a lot of work and effort. Does this mean I can get an award too?

Car-aoke Anyone?

Would you like a cheap, fast, lunch hour car-aoke session? Nothing fancy, not in a lounge but in the comfort of a car. While you sing, the driver will bring you around Singapore or to your lunch destination- yes, this is a lunch hour service only. Occasionally, the driver will sing with you. The songs are all pre-selected - 80's music ranging from the Best of Flybaits, Carefree, Headwind, Wings and BDB - and that stands for Black Dog Bone. Sometimes if you are lucky, you'll get M Daud Kilau's songs...and of course you can choose to gelek in the car. This car provides English selection too - Boney M, ABBA, Bananarama and yes, the all time favorite I Will Survive. Interested anyone?

60-an Joget

I was at a wedding yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed myself. They engaged the services of Sri Mahligai mini orchestra to perform. That group sang Malay songs from the 60's. They sang, Nonya Singapura, Manusia, Tak Seindah Jiwa, Gurindam Jiwa, Hello Hello Sayang and more... my oh my... i wished I could danced to the music. Since I couldn't, i resigned myself to singing and shaking my legs under the table. Of course, body wise, I had to sit still. Hubby was on my side... with a restraining order.

Few months back, when my cousin got married, she had Hindi songs... wah, that one also power. I wished I could do some banghra dance. Then, hubby had to remind me to be poised but at the end of the day, when the wedding had ended and we were cleaning up, all my cousins, uncles and aunts went into banghra mode. it was fun.

I think I have found a way to enjoy weddings.... yep enjoy the music, especially so for music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Good idea eh?

Another Office Move....

Friday noon - we stop work and will move to the new office. This would be my 4th move *sigh* The first one was from Temasek Towers to Atrium Tower 2, then Atrium Tower 1, then Atrium Tower 2 (same corner) and now to another Atrium but it's Holiday Inn Atrium @ Outram Road. If I have to move one more time, it will be to another new company.... so i say.


My boss left me and another colleague to choose the colors, system furnitures, carpets, blinds , everythinglah for the new office. Exciting right. The thing is, I am hopeless at matching colors. When we renovated our flat, my hubby chose the colors and made the final decisions on the design. I tell him what I want. This time I was pressured to choose the right colors and furniture... gosh... it was not easy. We spent several nights in the office choosing, contemplating, matching and finally it's all done. I like the new office colors - very colorful and bright. we have 4 meeting rooms, 2 of them has Paul Smith's colors. The other meeting room is bright lime green - and my colleague hated that color. hahaha... we shall see what other colleagues have to say. We have several pillars in the office and we both agreed on the following colors - PINK, REd, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, Orange. Nice eh. Very bright and cheerful. It reflects our personality and brand.

I am anxious. So, we went to visit the office during lunch. My image conscious g/f came with me. She highlighted all the flaws and said that that place is very much like Lion City Hotel and we'll be eating at Cyrstal Jade Kitchen.... well... I have no problems with the place.

I told her its OK. Instead of listening to songs on MTV, we listen to songs from the KTV lounges and dance to the beat of ABBA, Boney M and who knows BDB or Carefree.... i have a tune now in mind... and it has mak enon in it.

Our Responsibility

I was watching the Malay channel recently and these are my thoughts:

why do the actors/actress color their hair? Aren't they proud with what God has given them? Kalau look natural tak pe, this one nampak sah, trying damn hard. Nak jadi om puteh ke?

the way they dress... wow... sexy sey. I wonder why? What's so nice about showing your flesh... oklah granted, you are in the entertainment industry and you are young but what is the message that you want to potray? Melayu moden or melayu baru or melayu maju? You don't have to show off your flesh to be sexy, modern, maju .... example - Siti Nurhaliza.

I think the Malay channel has to be responsible towards the Malay/Muslim community here in Singapore. Why? That's the one and only TV station that is being viewed by the Malay community. Like it or not, what you air on the channel is seen by the young and old. I have heard comments from our parents/ aunts commenting on the way the actors/ hosts/ actresses dress but has the channel done anything to address this? To the young, they think this is OK because it's on TV and so and so dress that way. That so and so is their idol/ role model. What do you get?

It's very sad to see our Malay youngsters loitering around town dressed skimpily, have tatoos on their bodies and think it's cool. We already have a problem with our image and yet I don't see the most influential medium in our lives doing something about it.

I remembered when i was in school, an Indian VP told me the reason why he did not want any more Malays in that school is because Malay students would bring the school standards down. There were only 15 that year! I was furious but at 13 years old, all I could do was to prove him otherwise. I topped school for 3 straight years, got a scholarship in Sec 2 and am the only one in class that made it to JC. Then in JC, i met a student who told me that her father said why Malays don't do well in school is because they don't eat pork. I told her that her father is shallow and made sure during hockey games I get to tackle her ankles. My sweet revenge.

I guess i am concerned when I see how our Malay kids today behave in public and wonder how their future would be. How can we educate them and attract them to do the right things? I guess more can be done to address such issue and all it takes is a simple change here and there. I've seen them in Malay newspapers, on MUIS website and yet the most influential medium (TV) is under utilized. It makes me angry and yet sad....

Feel Fat Day

You've heard of Monday blues and you've heard of Bad Hair Days... have you heard of "Feel Fat Day"? Well, today I feel like that. I had a hard time getting up... rolled on my back, hubby gave a back rub and dragged myself to the bathroom. On my way to the bathroom, i felt my thights rubbed together... In the bathroom, my stomach felt heavy and gave in to gravity. Why oh why did I give in to temptation and have that one slice of D14 durian last night? Had a quick cold shower, hoping that it would burn my fat cells. Then I looked into the mirror and man oh man... did I see that white hair sticking out and and my wrinkles have procreated during the night!

I was feeling so disgusted at myself that I made my hubby dropped me off at the Meridien Hotel in the morning and I walked to the office.... it's not that far but at least I walked right?

Geram Jangan Engkau Geram... Geram Geram

I am very annoyed. Extremely. I had planned my day well today and everything was right on schedule until my last meeting. It was supposed to start at 4pm but it started at 515pm instead. I could not make it to my body combat class nor run. The meeting ended close to 7pm!

I don't like to wait - i can give friends/colleagues a grace of 10-15mins and anything beyond that, you can see it on my face and my attitude. I can shoot you straight and will tell you to move on to the next agenda. When colleagues are late for meetings and later ask the same questions that has been addressed, I will not hesitate to tell you to be on time next time. The thing is, if you are late, SHUT UP and follow the meeting. If you have questions, wait till the meeting is over. That is basic courtesy. Why can't people be on time? Is something wrong with their watch, their estimation? Why are you late? Is it because of traffic? Sick? Tyre puncture? Stomache? too talkative? What?!

I don't mind if I don't have much to do after work but the thing is I made an appointment, one that I hope not to miss. I am annoyed at myself too for being such a LOSER and allowing work take over my time!

Now I think I'm better off listening to Black Dog Bone song - Geram, jangan engkau geram.. geram, geram. Geram, bermacam ragam. Ada yang suka... *sigh*

Hindi Fever

I've finally got the Hindi fever from my hubby. Don't laugh. He had this thing for Hindi songs last December.... i thought it was a short-term thing but that CD is still in the car and he listens to it almost everyday. so since he fetches me to and from work everyday, we started to sing to the songs too... scary huh?

I decided to take a step further and he obliged. We went to Mustafa Center at midnite to look for Hindi movies. I have no idea what movies to buy so i bought not one, not two but THREE Hindi movies - Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gum, Dil Se and DevDas.

I have to admit I do like Hindi movies - the actresses are so beautiful, some of the actors look pretty good (some quite gay-ish), great dance steps - which is good to follow because it could be another aerobic session for you - which reminds me, I should upload some songs on my i-pod. The songs, the voices, the drama and most importantly, the story has to be really touching- about family, about mohabat (hehe...lovelah).... and one that can make you cry and your eyes swollen.... that is a good movie... and hey if hubby sits through the movie... that would be one hell of a movie!

Bread or Rock

I baked my bread today. The mixture was well-mixed and it rose and rose. I could smell the yeast - it was gooooddd... Wah, I was so impressed. So I put it in the oven to bake. 45mins later, the bread was ready. I took my knife out to cut the bread.... it was hard as a rock!! Alamak, what went wrong? I was so disappointed.... I told my mom about it and even gave her the b/g story. She said, "yalah, roti dari orang german... dia orang tu kan very kasar, keras... sebab tu roti kau jadi macam tu..." leerrr.....

Come Drive with Me.

have you come across inconsiderate drivers? i feel that if only I could smack them or tailgate them or do to them what they do to others.....

what's up with drivers that smoke? they smoke while they drive and throw their cigarette stub out of the window. the next thing you know, that stub hits your car. you know what I would like to do? I would like to take that stub and throw it back at them... into their car... if only i could... i WOULD!

have you seen how taxi drivers drive their cars? well not all but i have seen several. they cannot drive within their lanes. they drive on the edge or on the line. what's up with that? is something wrong with their vision? don't they know that this is dangerous... dangerous to the motorcyclists and other drivers. we have to figure out if they are trying to change lanes ....

women drivers.... ideally I don't want to criticize them but seriously.... if they plan to drive like a snail, move to the extreme left lane. why stay on the right lane. that i don't understand. if only i could, i would overtake them and cut into their lane abruptly... of course that's dangerouslah and i would probably get a tix and 8 demerit for doing that... but just the thought of doing that is fun *evil smile*....

i have to admit that I have seen some women drivers who have balls/guts to stand for their own right. just the other day i saw this female driver waiting for a parking space. along came this Toyota car and went straight for that parking lot. the female driver had been waiting for some time. She walked out of her car, knocked on the drivers' window and stood by the door. She refused to move. Eventually, that Toyota driver moved out! She rocked! I'd like to see more women like that.....

Inspired....

I'm heading for the gym....2 straight days. Last night I huff and I puff and I finished 5km. Not bad and I was so drenched in perspiration that I am sure my thunder thighs have slimmed down a wee bit. I dont wear mini or short skirts... so cannot tell. But I know it should have shrunked.

Now I am heading for body combat and i should be huffing and puffing again....

Travel Bread... or Chain Bread

You know chain letters, emails and SMS right? You pass it on to your friends/ colleagues. Sometimes they say, when you forward these chain notes, you'll get good luck. Believe it or not, today I receive a chain bread mixture.... and like any chain letters, I am supposed to pass this on... and get this, not the finished product but the mixture!

Apparently, the original dough is from Rome and it's supposed to bring your family lots of luck and should only be baked once. Not that I believe in such things but I do like baking... so why not try it.

I got it from a German colleague... she actually brought the mixture from Germany early this month.... her friend asked whether she flew to Singapore or take the road ... hello? Road? Duh!

Anyway, I received the mixture from my colleague and it comes with instructions. It says:

Don't place dough in the fridge. Stir with a wooden spoon only. Not metal!

Day 1: Stir/Mix
Day 2: Add 200g sugar. don't stir
Day 3: Add 200ml milk and stir
Day 4: 200g flour - don't stir
Day 5: Stir/Mix
Day 6: - check this out
Add 200ml milk, 200gm flour and mix until dough is smooth. Split the dough into 4 portions and pass 3 to lovely people for their own lucky bread (and the bread travels).

so, any of you my friends want to try this mixture. Let me know. I can send this mixture across to Malaysia even... this time, I can do it by road!

Intiative.......

today i received an email asking us what are the kinds of animals that our international office need to consider for any kind of products development...... funny i thought that someone who works in international office to not know the answer. i replied and told them the animals they should "avoid".... *sigh* Will they listen and do something about it? Not sure... we shall see. So far, I have informed people I know and yet, nothing has changed... oh well. their lost. I've accepted that I don't have to educate people, they should do so themselves... afterall, I did learn certain things on my own... the hard way.

I think Asian are a lot more sensitive to other people's cultural/ religious beliefs.... and that is very sad. Why is it that people don't take any effort to do something about it.

I was caught in a snow storm last Feb in New York New York. It was a great experience and the snow storm was BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. I became a kid all over again, played with snow, took lots of pictures and try to capture as much as I can in with my photogenic memory....

Anyway, at the hotel, the staff could not handle the guests demands. i'm sure the requests were not that hard to fulfil. This was my request:

Me: hi.... can i order some food?
Staff: No. Its buffet lunch
Me: But there is nothing i can eat. It's all meat, chicken, ham and I am vegetarian.
Staff: sorry. We have salad and bread
* bear in mind, I am caught in a snow storm and the last meal i had was at 11pm the night before. I requested for food at 12nn the next day.
Me: would it be possible to get your cook to make me an egg omelette?
Staff: No
Me: Why?
Staff: because there is only one cook.
and off she goes.....

I don't understand. Its buffet lunch, the cook must have finsihed cooking and all he needed to do was replenish the food. How long does it take to fry an omelette? So I ordered pizza... and waited for a FEW hours for it to arrive. I didn't even see it.... i gave up after calling them several times....

It annoyed me that people don't care and don't bother to care. Everything they (as in US) revolves around them and they get away with it.

Unleashed the Power of Zanee O

I feel like a free individual these days... because I have become my true Singaporean self. I can use "lah", "lor", "meh", "where got", "can lah" and of course curse in Chinese, Cantonese, Malay and eerrr... tamil/hindi not yet but will get there one day!

the last 5 years, i have been speaking properly and living in 2 worlds... or perhaps 3. With my guai lo colleagues, I have to be proper and speak in full sentences. I sometimes don't laugh at their jokes because simply I don't get it. I think the feeling is mutual. When I curse, I use that same adjectives everyone uses... you knowlah which one. Now, I'm free!!! I can speak English, Malay, Chinese, all in one sentence. How cool is that? I've become this truly asian girl... maybe should get Malaysian tourism board to feature me in their ads. Anyway!

So i told my gf this morning that for the last few years "saya terperangkap" and of course I started singing this particular song by Nash - Terperangkap, dalam sinaran.... sinaran yang, mengilaukan mata... something like that lah. I am Zanee O afterall... i sing all sorts of songs that my Malay friends pretend they don't listen and don't like. Aiyah... i'm sure they do enjoy listening to these songs but don't want to be associated with it. *sigh* Afterall, when I sing to them Mazuin Hamzah's songs, they burst out laughing... deep inside, I know they listened to her too when they were young and must have read Varia Pop about Mazuin's wedding to the Prince Kutil!

Bad Bad Bad!!!!

OK I am a bad girl. Today I told a friend that I read someone's blog - OK no big deal there.
But I was under the impression that this person is trendy, pretty, slim, hip, yada yada.... you get the picture?
Sekali she is the opposite leh! and i stopped reading her blog. bad right??!!!