Lynne Ali - Greetings from Tukmenistan

This blog has not been active for the last one year. No one has been updating it with stories or photos of Srikandi85', although I'm sure a lot has been happening amongst us...how sad :-( Perhap I should start the ball rolling again.

Last week, 27 September 2010 we celebrated Lynne Ali's belated birthday at Red Box Plus, Pavillion. Lynne, currently working in Tukmenistan returned home for two weeks to celebrate raya with her family and to be with her son who would be sitting for PMR this week. So we took the opportunity to meet up with her and celebrate her birthday, although a bit late. But as the saying goes, better late than never and it's the thoughts that count!

As usual, the six of us spent time karaoking and exchange stories with Lynne. From her stories, we knew that she has adjusted well with the people, culture and environment there but of course not the food!!!! She intend to be there for another year or so. Who knows, we might visit her on our annual trip next year!! We miss her whenever we meet over coffee. Hope we can meet up before she leaves for Tukmenistan.

Our Annual Trips

It all start in September 2005 when Liz and I went to Mekah to perform our first umrah. We didn't plan to go together but Liz wanted to join me when I told her of my intention. There we discovered the chemistry. We went with my aunties and cousin, six ladies and until now, masih tak boleh lupa the great time we had there. Still couldn't forget some of the "incidents" that happened in Mekah which remain secrets between us.

At Masjid Quba, Madinah

Memborong at Pasar Kurma, Madinah

Then in September 2007, both of us went to Bali. It was also a fun and enjoyable trip. Shopping was our main agenda until I have to pay for excess bagages!! Bila dah habis shopping, terus pergi SPA for massage. Tu lah kerja kita orang for 4 days we were there. Last year in August, Intan and BJ joined us for the first time to Krabi. We stayed at Centara Grand Beach Resort. It was such a beatiful hotel only accesible by boat. Day in day out asyik naik boat aje sampai mabuk laut! BJ wrote all about it (Girlfriends' Gateaway at the Andaman Sea) in her blog in August 2008 http://www.mrsnordin.blogspot.com/.

Nasi padang st Sukawati

At one of the gallery in Ubud


Barong Dance

So this year, we decided to go to Chiang Mai. We went there last month but unfortunately BJ couldn't join us and her place was replaced by Lin. We would love to have Gylle and Along to join us but they too had prior commitments. So, four of us went ahead with the trip despite H1N1. It was such a wonderful and unforgettable trip. Compared to when we were in Krabi asyik mabuk laut, this time mabuk binatang sebab naik gajah, lembu and kuda. We had a great time at Meatang Elephant centre where we spent 4 hours naik gajah, kereta lembu and naik rakit. After 40 years, barulah puas naik gajah. the rest of the days we spent our time at the SPA and again shopping for three consecutive nights at the Night Market. This time we stayed at Ratilanna Boutique Resort. It was just unfortunate that I lost all the pictures captured during the trip when by bag with my camera inside was snatched last week. Luckily BJ kept one of the photos which I e-mailed to her masa we all naik gajah. I hope to get some of the pictures captured by Intan.

Any suggestion for our destination next year????

Pot Luck at Abid's

Pre-lepak session. In the afternoon. 7th March 2009.

Exchanges of SMSes -

Abid : What are u gals doing tonite - want to lepak at my hse for dinner? RSVP.

Me : Sure. We don't hv any specific plans 4 2nite. Pot-luck mcm biasa :)

Abid : Hv not heard from the rest - will keep u updated if tonite is on or not.

Later -

Abid : Onair will try to get Ieja. Do u hv the karaoke mike?

Much later -

Abid : Ok, so far, ieja on with dessert, onair on with ??, shana on with... lauk ke, reha - no reply, jo bercuti in sg. So consider on le ye.

(No SMSes from me in between because I was busy going in and out of the house, ferrying the kids around!)

Hasilnya -

Onair and Co. arrived at Abid's right on time - 8:00p.m! Fuyoooo....sungguh luarbiasa sekali! Hahaha! (With Mee Goreng Special Kota Damansara, and later ordered some Pizza Hut Pizzas)

Followed by moi and family at 9:05p.m (With Ayam Masak Merah and Terung Masak Lemak Chili Padi and the Magic Mic Karaoke thingy).

Then, came Ieja with her four "Deens" with seribu satu macam desserts which you can get under the sun :)

Reha and her heroes came last with Satay Kajang. Tabs was away in Hong Kong.

Abid the gracious hostess - served Roast Chicken and Gravy, Meehoon Curry, Poached Veges, Fried Chicken Drummets and Chicken Nuggets. And rice to be eaten with my lauk.

And of course, Abid had to serve the drinks, too - kalau tak, we all semua tercekik lah pulak... Hehehe!

Instead of karaoke-ing, we ended up watching Slumdog Millionaire sambil menggosip...Hehehe!

Sesi berakhir pada pukul 1:45pagi.

Sekian Laporan :)

Mintak maaf - tak de lah pulak gambar makanan yang mengancam kesihatan malam tu.

Yang ada, hanya gambar makcik-makcik yang mengancam mesin timbang...

WAKAKAAAA!!!



Kawan-kawan, yang tergantung kat leher we all tu, bukan jacket atau vest atau baju katok, ya...Tapi, beg-beg buah tangan yang dibawa oleh Onair yang baru balik dari Seamreap, ya kawan-kawan. Thank you, Onair... :)

And thank you Abid and Rauf for having us :)

Eyerin & Along Birthday Bash

Eyerin turned 41 on 20th February while Along will celebrate hers on 27th Feb. But we decided to hold a joint birthday party for them to commemorate the occasion.

Lin Ali was the party planner. Hee.. hee... you did a good job, Lin! She chose Red Box Pavillion as the venue. Seven of us turned up: Intan, Dada, Liz, Eyerin, Along, Lin and me. I arrived slightly late because I was stuck in the office with my boss. But I made it in time anytime as they were just starting to eat when I arrived.

I've had many karaoke sessions with Intan, Dada, Lin & Liz before but that was the first time with Eyerin and Along. So i guess that's why Eyerin was a bit apprehensive at first. Bila suruh nyanyi, suara tak keluar.

Along tak payah suruhlah, dia memang suka nyanyi pun. And she's got a great voice. Bila nyanyi lagu Celine Dion, alamak... tersonyap semua orang!

But after a while, Eyerin became more relax and she took up the mic. Lepas tu, tak berhenti2 lah dia menyanyi. Hee.. hee... siap ada back up dancers lagi! We danced the joget, the rock & roll, the dangdut, the cha-cha, the boogie... hentam je! It was really fun. I enjoyed myself tremendously.

The party started at 6pm and ended close to 10.30pm. Only because Along's husband had been texting her, wondering when she was coming home. Hmmm.... orang lelaki ni memang tak senang kalau tengok isteri dia keluar jumpa kawan2. Sibuk suruh balik! What to do...

So we had to wrap up and leave. Anyway, she had to drive alone to Semenyih. Not safe to let her stay out too late. I hope the birthday gals had a good time with us that night.

So, for those yang nak menyambut harijadi dimasa akan datang, we'll be glad to be of service and make your day a memorable one.

Enjoy the pictures!

Follow-up Reunion at The Apartment...

Hi guys! Have been meaning to blog on this for the last one week, but, alas - work and all other mundane stuffs got the better of me.

It has been exactly 2 weeks since we had our Reunion, and I can still hear the jerit pekik and hiruk pikuk we made at Singgahsana that afternoon. Even though someone did make a comment that I seemed a bit "lost" that day...(Hehehe!) I promise you all that I was actually taking everything in, and absorbing everything that was happening all at the same time, over the 5 hours we were there.

And of course, 5 hours could never be enough to cover what happened over 23 years to 60 girls, could it? But, 5 hours were definitely enough for us to get all necessary contact details and also start new tiny sparks of reacquaintances. And with all the details in hand, I was determine to ignite the spark to another level, at least with some of my Soc Sci gang...And that was what we did last weekend :)

Taking advantage of the long Thaipusam weekend, we managed to pool a number of people for a "mengkopi" session at The Apartment @ The Curve on 6 February 2009. But, I guess the long weekend also meant that some of us already had something planned outside of KL, and therefore, were not able to join us.

I was working on the list of all of our Soc Sci gang residing in Klang Valley, with special emphasis on Neetot, who was not able to join us at Singgahsana the other day, due to a Khenduri Tahlil her family and her were having in Kuala Pilah on the same day to mark the 100 days of the passing of Arwah her father, Arwah Abu Bakar Abu Samah. Al-Fatihah to Arwah...

I had Neetot, Yan, Anis, Ogy, Jue, Oya, Eta, Anne, Zaza, Pis, Hye, Netty and Farah on the list. After several threads of SMSs, also to kengkawan outside KL just to inform them (mana lah tau, they all would be in KL that night, they could join us, kan?), there were some 'casualties'.

Eta, had to give it a miss at the last minute, memandangkan her gorgeous Baby Mikhael is breast-feeding, and he's not that used to going out at night. It's okay, Eta...we understand :)

Anne was having a treasure hunt thing very early the next morning, and she was involved in organizing it, etc. So, she had to say "No". Insya Allah, next time, ya?

Zaza, had to work that night... Aiyooo! You need to chill out, dear. Hehehe!

Pis had already made plans for the long weekend, and so she was not able to join us. It's okay...Sesi mengkopi ni pun, rather a last minute thing :)

Hye was down in KL from Bukit Mertajam that night, and she was staying in Bangi with her hubby who had some work to do and also her adorable son, Iman. Adat ada anak kecik ni...we understand, Hye. No worries. Ada rezqi lain kali insya Allah :)

Netty could not get away from atas bukit nun...Ya lah...nanti kalau sesi mengkopi habis lambat, susah pulak for her to drive back to Genting, kan? Next time kita buat sesi di siang hari, okay? :)

And Farah, who also did not make it for the Singgahsana Reunion, could not make it for our mengkopi session, too, as she was stuck at work until quite late that night as her school was having a gotong royong the next day. It's okay, dear...there'll be another rezqi to meet up with all of us, insya Allah.

I wasn't sure of an appropriate venue for our mini get together, as some of us wanted to just have coffee, while some didn't mind if we were to have dinner. So, after work, as The Curve was right in the middle of my office-to-home route, I made a dash to just check out a few places there, and finally settled for The Apartment and made reservations for 8:30p.m, for 8 people. The menu was perfect for both 'mengkopi' and/or dinner.

I went back straight to SD, cooked dinner for the kids, and left for The Curve again straight after Maghrib. It was a miracle that I managed to find a parking space in that place, at that hour considering that it was a Friday night! And just as I was about to go up to The Walk, Yan pulled in and parked her car just a few spaces after mine. We made our way up together to The Apartment, and soon after, we were joined by Neetot, followed by Oya, Ogy and Jue.

Borak sakan lah we all malam tu...Baru lah rasa puas...(SIKIT ajer tapinyer!) Anis joined us slightly later with her pretty little daughters - Madiha and Hana :) I tell you, they looked exactly like Anis, okay? Even the way they smiled and talked (or in Anis' case - the way they DON'T talk! Hehehehe! Just joking, Anis :))

Baru lah dapat catch up sikit-sikit about what's going on in our lives, and gossip sini sikit sana sikit malam tu. We were sitting in one corner at the back of The Apartment where we were given 2 day-beds to lepak on. So, it was quite cozy. We ended up sharing our food - just like old times...And of course, we also ended up mengekek-ngekek tergelak like nobody's business...just like old times, too :) It was especially nice to have Neetot with us that night, to make up for her absence in Singgahsana. Thanks, Neetot...for making time to be with us. All of us tak gering kusi dengar your witty jokes...just like old times :)

Borak punya borak, tak sedar dah nearly 11:00p.m. Some of us had husbands and kids waiting somewhere at The Curve (or kawasan sewaktu dengannya), while some had hubbies and kids waiting at home. And reluctantly we bade our farewells. That was before we promised to meet up again soon. Insya Allah, next time in KL pulak.

And Oya yang ever so generous (sejak dari sekolah dulu, sampailah sekarang!) was kind enough to belanja we all that night...THANK YOU SO MUCH, OYA! :)

I'm so looking forward to seeing you guys again soon, insya Allah :) So many things tak cover lagi laaaa...I'd love to know more about Oya's business from home, Yan's life as Lady of Leisure as an Exec Chef's Wife (I'm still amazed with her lifestyle! :)), Ogy's successful MAA Agency, Jue's legal practice, Neetot's life, also as a Lady of Leisure as a Doc's wife, and Anis' life as the PA of the CEO of Ce*co*! And of course, the lives of all other friends, who insya Allah can make it to the next sesi mengkopi, insya Allah. Nanti kita *"Pergi Belanda", okay? Hehehe...

Till then, take care my friends :)

Here are some pics :)








* "Pergi Belanda" = Go Dutch laaaa ;)

"Wordless..."

I have been meaning to blog on the STF81-85 Reunion on Saturday night itself, but, somehow I couldn't find the right words to describe the whole thing. Quite unlike me, I must say, BUT, seriously - I was "wordless" (if there is such a word to describe my state of writer's block that night!)

I was wordless in my efforts to pen down in this blog as to how exactly I felt when I saw all of our friends whom I have not seen since we left school 23 ears ago, in 1985. Just as I was wordless that afternoon itself at Singgahsana.

I was wordless when I saw our friends who still looked the same after 23 years and after giving birth to between 1 to 7 kids!

I was wordless when I saw some of our friends who have changed tremendously and I nearly did not recognize them. Thank God for the name-tags which we were asked to put on. THAT really helped :)

I was wordless when I saw how much some of our friends have changed, but at the same time have not changed at all! You know what I mean?

I was wordless when I saw some of our friends who have not changed at all - physically, or demeanour-wise : the way they walked, the way they talked, the way they laughed, the way they smiled, the way they joked. In fact, the way they did everthing! It was like we never left STF...

I was wordless when I saw the efforts made by some of our friends to be with us that afternoon - travelling from KT, KB, JB, BP, Kota Tinggi, Melaka, Taiping, Ipoh, Kulim. One even drove from Sandakan to KK to catch the flight to KL that day, but, alas she missed the flight! Nancy Simon - now Nadirah Abdullah, WE HEART YOU, girl!!

I was wordless when I got to know that some of our friends who were supposed to be there with us could not make it at the last minute due to unavoidable and unforeseen circumstances. We propose, God disposes... Aida K, Lin Sharif and Farah - insya Allah ada rezqi next time, dears.

I was wordless when I saw the slides of our yesteryears. God - those pics of us in those REALLY SHORT shorts, and those 80's looks - those hair, those poses, those blouses, those skirts, those everything! Mega cringe big time, I tell you!

I was wordless when I listened to all the glorious songs of the 80's! Thanks, Leha. You're a gem :)

I was wordless when I saw the photos of our dear friends who have left us forever to be with HIM. Al-Fatihah to Arwah Rosmawatee Mohd Sirat (Ross) and Arwah Rohaidah Abdul Ghafar (Rohaid)...

I was wordless, but in place of all the words that I lost were the words from all of us that afternoon which came in the forms of -

* the screams of excitement,
* the squeals of laughter
* the tears of sadness and sorrow
* the smiles from our warm hearts
* the hugs from our even warmer souls


However, I don't want to be wordless when I saw how well the organizers of the event have put everything together. You all deserve a pat on the back and a standing ovation for a job well-done...And for this, I can't be wordless, can I? Because I so much want to THANK YOU ALL for making the Reunion possible...

Dada, BJ, Intan, Gylle, Lin Ali, Leha, Liz, Tuti, Eyerin...

THANK YOU SO MUCH, GUYS!!!

Let's make do'a that we will have the opportunity to come together again soon.

Let's make do'a that Allah SWT akan panjangkan umur ALL of us to come together again.

Let's make do'a that those who were not able to be with us that day, diberikan rezqi to join us next time.

Let's make do'a together.

Amin. Insya Allah :)

In the mean time - here are some pics!

At Last We Met!

I'm sitting in my study room, listening to "Suratan & Kebetulan" by Kenny, Remi, Martin. This CD is on loan from Dada as I didn't get a copy from Leha, who had painstakingly compiled the beautiful songs from our STF days for our reunion.

Leha and her adorable baby (he's soooo baik!!)

Ahh... there's so much to write about the reunion last Saturday, 31st January 2009. I'm lost for words. But if I have to summarize it in just one word, it would be simply "wonderful". It was a wonderful event indeed...

I'm glad I initiated the idea which was reciprorated by all my other friends who were at Madam Kwan's that fateful evening. And I have to personally thank Dada for putting in her 110% effort into making the reunion a reality. Without her, I don't think all 60 of us would be there last Saturday afternoon.

Dada and her beautiful bouquet

For me, the best thing about the reunion is, I got to meet my good old friend, Roza. Roza and I went a long way in school but we parted ways after SPM. She went straight to the UK to do her A-Levels while I stayed behind to do mine at TKC. We did meet once in London in 1990, but after that, I lost touch with her completely.

I only heard "stories" about her from friends thereafter but we never took the initiative to meet again seriously. Well, honestly I felt a bit slighted because we were so close before but I supposed, people changed, so I let it be.

But when I saw her last Saturday, oh my... she hasn't changed at all! She's still the same adorable Roza ~ ever so gentle and speaks ever so softly to anyone she meets. I was a bit apprehensive at first, afraid that she might be a different person now. But my perception was totally unfounded. She's a doctor now, in Tanah Merah, Kelantan. She has 3 daughters and now expecting another one. I'm sure she's a wonderful mother!

Me & Roza

Then, there was Nan Aini. She's another person who I really wanted to meet after Roza. I remember her clearly because she had a boyfriend when we were in Form 5. His name was Md Zain and he was already a working man at that time. She always received letters from him and the whole class knew of their love affair (it was kinda scandalous actually, coz she was only 17 and he was older). So, I was very curious to know what had happened to her after school.

She came alright, but she looked completely different from before! Most of us didn't recognise her. Dah pakai tudung and verylah mak datin with her gold jewellery. She told us she married Md Zain eventually and she's now teaching in Bukit Indah, Ampang. Hee.. hee... itu memang cinta agung!

Me, Dada & Nan Aini

There are loads of photos from the gathering, but it's very slow to download now. I'll post more later.

In the mean time, this is the photo that I like best:

Geng tak pakai tudung!

(hee.. hee... hopefully, next reunion, this row will be shorter!)