Looking Back (October 2008)

Gee, it has been months since I last wrote an entry to this blog. I am not going to find any excuses for it because I have none! I am so excited to start a new episode for the year 2009, but I have to finish writing about the happenings in 2008. Thank God, only 3 months left to record. I think I covered most of the events in September last year. Well, let's see my diary. Hmm... I wonder if anything interesting happened in the first 2 weeks of October. My first entry was on the 15th, the day my TESL classmates and I went to UPM for our convocation rehearsal. We were supposed to be at the rehearsal at 9am, so we left Kuantan at 4 a.m! We planned on driving in convoy but decided not to. It was tough enough to gather everyone in one car. So my friend Amba and I took turn to drive. We made 2 quick stops, once in Temerloh R&R to pray subuh and then at Genting Sempah R&R to have breakfast. The picture above was taken outside of Genting Sempah R&R with a beautiful thick fog as a background. We were caught in a semi-terrible jam in KL but we made it to UPM on time for the rehearsal. On the way back, neither Amba nor myself dared to drive through KL so we took the Muadzam road via Negeri Sembilan. It was great because I got to stop at my mom's house in Ulu Bendul, where we prayed asar. All of us arrived safely in Kuantan around 9.30 pm. What a trip! That was my maiden long distance journey because all this time my husband was the one on contract to drive.
On 16, Yasmin went on a school trip with all standard six students to the Sungai Lembing Muzium. Those students just finished their UPSR exam in September so they didn't have any more lessons to cover for that year. On Saturday the 18 the whole family went to KL to attend my convocation at UPM the next day. We stayed at Palm Garden Hotel in Putra Jaya. We went to Alamanda just to window shop and bought some food for dinner. The next day, after checking out we went to visit our friend Azlan Rosmera at his "palace" somewhere between Putra Jaya and UPM. Luckily he came to the hotel and led us to his home. Otherwise, there was no way we would find it on our own. We hate driving in KL because we always get lost. We were cutting it pretty close to the time when I had to line up into the grand hall. Steve dropped me quite far from where I was supposed be and I had to run for my life, with my new shoes! But we managed. The ceremony went pretty well and we got our scroll and all. I am glad that it's all over.
On 21 October Yasmin went to Tasik Cini for year six student camp. She went for 3 days (until 23 Oct). The day she got back was the day that I went for an interview for at KPTM KL. About 8 lecturers and 2 executives attended the interview. The verdict was, all the lecturers (except 1) received their promotion but us the donkey execs are still at the good old grade level. I guess things happened for reasons which known only to the Creator. I am still grateful the fact that I still have my job. Others are much worse-off than me, especially in this terrible economic condition. Well, what else is there to say? That would be a whole new blog topic! Perhaps in another life.
The good news is that the next day my family and I attended an open house at my friend Nasir's office in Selayang. We met some old schoolmates and reminisced the good old time. We stayed overnight at Azmi and Salmah's house in Pandan Indah. On 25 we continued our journey to my mom's home in Ulu Bendul. We stayed until Monday (27 Oct) because it was a public holiday for Deepavali.
On Friday 31 Oct, Steve left for the annual EARCOS conference. This time it was held in Kota Kinabalu. I just sent him to his office early in the morning and he went to the airport with his boss. The same day Yasmin went to her friend Mawaddah's home for year six student - teacher program. Steve and I couldn't attend the function.