W : Budgeting

Haha I can't seriously be taken as someone with wits on budgeting or money allocation. But perhaps my lack thereof? Ini lah akibatnya pergi jalan-jalan dengan mama dan beli barang bile on sale. Ok peace apis. Sape suruh awk pergi Johor time2 indah saya di KL. Super choi.

I found the white paper lanterns at ikea, which will become as gifts once the reception is over for my aunts and relatives. Good good. I'm also taking up the idea of decorating the tables for the KL reception. Not that much decorating in fact, just a simple vase with a flower or two. I think this whole wedding process has made me become more and more stingy. Tee hee. I even got wedding pressies for Wafa and Noran. Tapi tatau ade ke tak kat darat mase tu.

Oh so my two cents on budgeting. Work out the numbers. Make it work for you and your partner. Try to resist the parental front attack. Its gonna come and strike you hard. Haha. But please don't lose sight that this is also an event (of a lifetime) for our parents.

Esok, F balik. Yeayhuu.

W : On the beach

Hey hey. And he finally did wake up. I donned baju kurung the whole day, promising myself that I had to make up Hari Raya for my own peace and happiness. I was supposed to wear it for Shiela's engagement but arrived too late thanks to the butt numbing ride on a bus for 8 hours prior to getting there on time. Ended up wearing the pregnant looking blouse that I love to pieces.

Our morning started with a peaceful breakfast at Hai Peng, and off to beautiful Kuantan. Looked up one of our candidate for location. Fell in love instantly with the place. Heaven in a teacup. Didn't know why I didn't take any pictures with F. Guess it was too hot for any of that. Vera was there too. Checked out her crib, it was cute and cozy.

Let's hope that our wedding will take place here, I'm sure many will protest against it. F is stubborn, and usually gets his way. I hope he'll stand up hard for this one. My serious piece of heaven. Can't wait.

So, will you come to KL or Pahang? Haha.

Peekaboo

I'm home. Don't feel like writing much. But F does sleep like a mad man, oblivious to the fact that everyone around him is bustling and hurrying to make the best of the early day light. He sleeps like a log. Through the sun's rays and the heat. He sleeps.

This morning, he's late again. Haha.

Morning Mojo

This is what I rush out at 6:30 am to.

I hike out across two metal structured bridges, with only the grating protecting me from the water below. Up three major flights of stairs that repetitively makes me believe I will have somewhat accomplished getting butts of steel at the end of this hitch. My toes are starting to swell from the excessive wear of socks and work boots.

Do you still remember the time when I told you I'm a morning person?

Hari muram.

Harini agak tak best bagi aku. Awal pagi dapat berita yang client nak run coil untuk detect fluid level dalam well. Kenapa nak guna coil pon aku tak paham. Harini jugak supervisor aku balik, iqkbal. Aku diberi tangunggjawab untuk menjadi supervisor sementara menantikan pengganti iqkbal datang.

to make things worse, nitrogen pump aku pulak buat hal. dari 10 pagi up till petang jam 4??? hotak la. nak pump inhibitor a266, batch mixer aku plak boleh tanak rev up? start enjin ok, nak on agitator ngn c-pump die leh konk mati mcm tu. engine stall ke ape aku tak sure tp derang kate air starter aku da masok air. double hotakk harini. Jadi aku terpaksa la break pump line dan tuang je inhibitor tu dlm hose dan berharap pump operator aku tak lose prime mase die operate pump nanti.

da kol 4 ptg, company man pon da merah2 padam sebab asek dapat 'not-good' results dari ktorang. da pressure test, da pump inhibitor, da purge coil dengan nitrogen. da ready to rock and roll da nih. wellhead cross over aku kat well tu plak boleh leaking??!!!

For the love of cheesecake. Aku pasrah. So damn tired.

To make things worse, kenapa aku boleh serempak dengan company man mase aku baru nak menikmati segelas susu pada jam 8:30 malam. Of course la die bebel kat telinga aku pasal immediate reporting.

Sebenarnya da 3 hari aku tak ngam ngn faliq. Benci sial.

For Dummies

W : Andani's

Andani was girl I met from SLB Balikpapan, she got married on 1st of August. She was the one who pretty much guided me through Jakarta's textile market. I just got internet connection in my own bedroom which is pretty awesome considering the fact that the company man doesn't seem to care about me not being out on the main deck during standby hours. Super!

I browsed through her album and it was just beautiful. I'm sure she spent a small fortune looking at the scale of things. Which is definitely the opposite direction of where we are taking ours.

Here's to wishing you well, and the awkward rapport we built during our MOC sessions talking about different types of chiffon, laces and taffeta silks.

W : The Venues

If this was what my wedding reception looked like, I'd die a happy woman. Kot.

As young couples, we wanted to celebrate our big day of course in grandeur. We searched high and low for the most kitsch, most photo dramatic places which could accommodate a reception of some sort.

Which lead to places which needed big bucks. $$$$. Money talks, bullshit walks.

But since we are both funding our own reception, we had to come back down to earth. And somehow in the process, we've silently decided that the 'friends only' reception in Pekan was going to be the greatest event. We were going to do things our way, at our own expense and hopefully it'll be a blast. The KL reception was going to be more for my parents..I don't mind one bit.

Maybe our bbq night would not look anything like this, but I'd like to continue dreaming that it would.

And it'd be great fun to make an arch and have crepe paper flipping away under the coconut trees


...until I got news that F might be considering the change in venues for Pahang side. Haha. (minor heart attack)

All pictures are taken from the web.

Ikan goreng lauk labu dan kicap

Aku dah dua hari miss makan malam. Sebab aku lewat pulang dari CKA. Perjalanan aku dari CKA ke living quarters di CKP ada la dalam 300 langkah merentasi 2 jambatan, 6 flights of stairs. Eh omputih pulak. Kadang-kadang crew kesian kat aku kerja shift tak menentu dan menapau untuk aku. Orang yang betul2 kenal aku saja yang tahu aku perlu ada kicap, sambal belacan, atau apa2 yang pedass la.

Tapi setelah sebulan berpuasa, perut pon da kembali neutral. Tak elok makan pedas banyak sangat. Orang kata sebab itu juga rambut cepat gugur. Oih. Arini standby (yea) leh berguling bace buku cerita walaupun di dalam cabin yang ekon rosak, bersebelahan dgn air compressor bising.

Plug your ears and read on!

Ceq lapaq. Pasang hajat untuk berbuka jam 7 on the dot dan kemudian melantak lagi minom malam at 9pm =)

***

Happy birthday buat abang kandungku yang ala2 hindustanii love you much!!

W : Petit Gateux

picture taken from the worldwideweb

I've been frantically hacking my brain into two trying to get most of the preparation done. I'd like to share it all here but since I'm constantly changing my mind, it might seem a bit pointless. But I will, I will. It does come to a point where you think people will judge you for your choice but its too exciting to let that kind of thinking blunt you.

F and I are trying to get it all done beautifully without burning a hole in our pockets. We've seen our choices rapidly change from the outrageously unfeasible to the chic and costly, to the oh welcome to reality. I'm content that I feel happy with the choices we've made. I've heard bad reviews about the KL wedding reception venue, the fact that it needs close monitoring and constant baby-sitting just ain't gonna work for me, with being far from KL and F hardly the type to remember these things.

Anyhoots, I'm going to give Aunty Aishah's macaroon a try and work something out under a tight budget. Peace. Korang yang sedang seronok beraye sakan tu. Joli la puas2.

Raya Cakerawala

Hari ini hari raya. But somehow I didn't succeed in making it meaningful at least on the surface. I skipped the prayers, I didn't go downstairs to hang out with the guys. I secluded myself from them. I watched telly and read some more. I needed the sleep. There was no way in telling when I'd start my operation and from then on, I wouldn't be able to retire until the whole job is over with. I believe that is just a bag full of shitty excuses I keep with me..

The bright side of things is that two of my most important people are on safe shores. I called up mama, we didn't get into the sappy sad melody as all my crew seem to be expecting I would. Mama was just plain happy to be back and to be able to talk to me freely on the phone. We talked more about dubai duty free and menus than we did about feeling all sad and festive. With F, well. That has always been a bit hard to master. I'd be expecting him to pore out stories for me instead of having me reply all his questions with just 'hmm's and 'yup's. Am sorry for having such high hopes everytime we talk on the phone. But it got better during dinner. I guess he might have felt bad that I called him up and all he did was mutter the whole duration. Or maybe not.

This year's raya was a bit on the low side for me. I don't want to be too joyous and then find myself crying later just cause I enjoyed myself so much. Its how I believe the world works. Cry a little, smile a little. Too much of something good ought to lead to something bad just to counter it and strike a balance. Hey resident evil is out! So looking forward to watching that with F.

I wanna look ahead, look at tomorrow, look at next year. I'll be celebrating it with F, as a couple. Its going to be pretty exciting business! Ayah, I feel you. I hope you had yourself a much more cheerful day than your sorry daughter did. Mama and Wan hope you guys made Atok's day.. Abang and Kak liza, you're bound to be happy as long as the other is there.

Selamat Hari Raya, salam maaf zahir dan batin to all.

This year, raya is just about trying to be happy when the world is screaming for serious attention to all other things, other than your own happiness.

I love each and every one of you, and pray to find peace with everyone I've met along the way. To those whom I've made enemies of..well.

I forgive you too.

Pump in batches

5 Sept 2010

The fluid level in the well is now up up higher la pulak. Kenape. Taikkk. Fark you CKA-10 you are screwing me over big time. Ok peace. Pis. A.pis. Hey you know what I found our 2nd year anny card in my scribble book. It was blue and had button flowers on it. Cute. This year I'll get you a card =) (minus the ipod yes love)

6 Sept 2010

Today was our second day of stand by on wireline operation. I have no clue why the crew were lazy assess not wanting to maintenance any of the units. Not that I was feeling hardworking or anything. But with fasting and all, it was a perfect way to laze about. It rains a lot out here. The wind speed picks up to 40 knots at least once throughout the day. Most of the time I am in the active cabin poring through sample reports/spe papers since kakak jeanne is expecting a report coming out of my nose or something.

I crave for :

1. peach filled filo pastry with heaps of fresh cream
2. steaming hot apple pie with fresh cream
3. cupcakes with creamcheese topping
4. faliq haffiz's crooked smile

My guess is tomorrow will be a bit more salivating on the poultry/protein side.

The second part of the huddle

During the job I was in charge of advising on how the operation will be executed. The pump rates, the depths, the speeds. Initially , it was pretty rad and stuff. I prepared the software at 10am and stayed awake on the job until the next day, at 5pm when my tool tagged surface. Overall of it, the job was a success. No loss time, no incidents with the crew. Am peachy happy. Ooh I had peach yogourt yesterday.

Anyways, in the heat of trying to stay awake, I slipped into a totally stoned/daze phase. I didn't know what my readings were for and why we were pumping at the rates we were. Halfway through the night the well-testing guys chirped on the radio, telling me to sleep since I was asking really ridiculous questions. So it turned out that I did the whole job in overbalanced condition. Hahaha OK.

I hope I'll still understand this entry even when I'm at 35 years of age. Pis pis. Kacang pis. Apis I miss you!!

The Huddle

I set up decipher today.

***

Today is the day I've been waiting for. I've been waiting for patiently for the past three months. To be handed an empty slate and having your own way of shaping it into something real. "if for some reason this job does not pull through, its all because of you" thats basically the kind of support I received when I was working in KL. Pretty sad, right? I bit back my tongue hard when instantly my brain's network starte to transmit phrases powerd up bby my emotions and logic reasoning hastened with every beat of my heart. And if the job is successful? Then what? I bit my tongue hard and let my heart sink deep.

Old pics old news

31 Aug 2010

Flight aku lewat malam. Aku tak tahu bagaimana driver bayam ni akan tahu aku adalah passenger yang dicari. Kan betul, brade tu tatau pon aku adalah org laut itu. Kerana beg aku tidak biru dan berat. Hotel check-in sangat penuh. Ramai nye orang nak tidur di sini. Bilik best, chopper esok lewat tghari. Aku boleh tidur lama. Tetapi aku nak online puas2. Tamak betul aku ni sejak dua menjak. Part ni dlm perjalanan kerjaya aku, aku suka. sbb laju so macam thrill la konon.

1 Sept 2010

Chopper jam 4 ptg, abang driver kata budak2 yang naik semalam kene keluarkan makanan dari beg masing2. Kesian betul, lagi2 kalau ada yang membawa bekal dari rumah lagi. Aku cuma bawak oatmeal 3-in-1 dan coklat crunchie. Just for the ride. Boring betul pemandangan indah ni aku sgt benci. Teruk kan? Saprais kin, kamu kene duduk di AV. Kenapa nama aku tak ada di list penduduk pelantar? Cisnan. Mabuk la aku macam ni. Kan betul. Dari jam 6 hingga jam 830 ptg aku berguling saje. Aku tak larat nak berbuka. Bau kapal adalah semacam = mabuk.

2 Sept 2010

Harini OK sikit. Bangun awal, tak sahur lapar pagi hari. Padan muke kau. Terus gigih join operation meeting pada jam 8.30 di CKP. CKA ni platform yang ade wellhead, thats where we are working. Tetapi office modules, living quarters platform ni terletak pada CKP. Anyhoots. Jangan risau, aku tak sesat walaupun kena merentasi 3 bijik jambatan dari Lewek Chancellor untuk ke CKP miting pagi hari gigih. Aku bosan la sebab client aku ni mcm tak tahu ape2 je gaye. Gaye je la, we cant really let them fool us. Fool.

I start my day with you

I want to remember, the 730 am texts we used to send. Asking each other where they are at.

I want to remember, the feeling of looking and waiting for you within KLCC premises, we promised to meet at Tiffany's.

I want to remember, the warmth that is filled inside my tiny heart every time you tap on my bag, tug on my shirt, or grab me by my shoulders. Vamos!

I want to remember, the 1230 pm texts I'd send, asking you on your lunch plans.

I want to remember, the little piece of heaven you'd take me to, every time after 5pm and we'd sit near the waterworks as I'd munch down on popiah and vent out to you on how much I hate my job.

Should I also want to remember, every time you had to pack and leave. The awful empty hallow space that you leave me with. I'm such a cry baby, you'd say. But we both know you're just saying it cause you don't really know what else to say.

I'm drafting this as I am getting ready to check out of the hotel. This is weird. We're saying good bye to one another, from afar.

Take care.

Call me abang

I usually walk home from the train throughout the fasting month. It was during those time I would think up of ridiculously stupid things to think about. Just to pass the time and in order to get home in a jiffy.

My brother's previous girlfriend was pretty close to our siblings, but it struck me as a surprise and it annoyed me in the beginning to have her call my brother 'abang'. Initially I think I was dealing with some sharing issues. I've always been close to my brother and to have to share my 'abang' with someone else was a bit too much. Haha.

Now Allah is probably showing to me how things can turn 360 without us noticing. I now call F abang, probably to the disgust of his siblings too. Haha. ah well. I had a friend before try to guess what it is I address F by, and he bluntly told me that I didn't look like the type to call my F abang. Haha. I wanted to curl and laugh but the offshore cabin was too small for that.

Rindu nye la kat abg.